UT Permian Basin Volleyball opened up a weekend against Lone Star Conference divisional opponents playing West Texas A&M tough in the opening sets, including forcing the Lady Buffs to extra points, but West Texas A&M pulled out a three-set 25-27, 23-25, 18-25 win over the Falcons in Canyon, Texas.

Trailing by six points late in the first set, the Falcons rallied from a 22-16 score by winning five straight points to close within 22-21. Grace Talbert was in on a pair of blocks and had a kill during the rally and Skyler Friel had a service ace in the five-point stretch. Shortly after the Falcons took the lead late in the set at 25-24 after a pair of attack errors around an ace by Isela Murillo, but the Lady Buffs won the set by scoring the last three points of the game.

Set two was a back and forth until UTPB took a four-point lead at 17-13 by winning five of six points, capped by back-to-back kills from Aquincia Strambler. A West Texas A&M run gave the Lady Buffs back the one-point lead at 22-21, and they won the second set by breaking a tie with the final two points.

Friel led the Falcons offensive attack Friday night as one of three players to lead the Falcons with seven kills while hitting a team-best .300 on the night. Murillo added seven kills with 12 digs, while Strambler also had seven kills on the night. Travana Matthews ended the three-set match with six winners. 

Megan Ashton had a team-high 15 digs for the Falcons, and Analise Lucio led UT Permian Basin with 12 assists.

The Falcons continue road action this weekend, traveling to Portales, N.M., for a Saturday contest at Eastern New Mexico.