Travana Matthews led the Falcons with 10 kills and Analise Lucio had a match-high 37 assists Thursday night as UT Permian Basin Volleyball clinched a spot in the 2019 Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championships with a 3-0 sweep over Eastern New Mexico. With the victory, the Falcons are guaranteed a top-four finish in their pod and a spot in next week's LSC Championships.

"I'm very proud of our team for playing well and playing together tonight," said Head Coach Tim Loesch. After a bit of a slow start, we found our rhythm and played very sharp the rest of the match. We accomplished another of our team golas by clinching an LSC Tournament berth. Our seniors are super excited to return to the playoffs, and we look forward to honoring them in our final regular season match on Saturday!"

The Falcons hit collectively .248 as a team on the night, hitting 40 kills to just 12 errors while forcing the Greyhounds into 24 errors and only 30 kills and a .052 hitting percentage. 

Matthews, ready to set the all-time hitting percentage record at UTPB, hit .667 with 10 kills and no errors on 15 attempts on the night.

Isela Murillo added nine kills, while Quincy Strambler had eight winners for the Falcons.

Lucio continued her strong play on the season, setting up 34 kills while also adding nine digs. 

Murillo and Erika Lozano tied for the team lead with 11 digs apiece, and Lanai Hurd aided in the defensive effort with 10 digs.

 Beginning this year, selection for the conference tournament will be determined by a team's record against the other teams in its pod. The league has been broken into three pods of six teams each, and the top four teams in each pod will advance to the conference tournament.  Four teams will receive a bye in the first round of play; each of the three pod winners, and the highest remaining team that did not win its pod.

 Seeding in the tournament will be set by NCAA RPI, which is based upon a team's wins and losses as well as strength of schedule against Division II teams this season.

 Seeds 5-12 will play in a first-round tournament game Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. at local campus sites. Seeds 5, 6, 7, and 8 will all host matches in the first round. The four winners of those matches will advance to the second round of the championships at the #1 seed beginning on Thursday, Nov. 21.

Prior to Saturday's regular season finale at noon against West Texas A&M, the Falcons will honor their senior class of Matthews, Skyler Friel, and Kiera Granado.