Travana Matthews picked a great time to have the game of her career as UT Permian Basin Volleyball defeated DBU 25-16, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22 to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2019 Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championships. The #7 Falcons will take on #2 Angelo State Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Commerce, Texas.

After a slow start in the first set, UTPB cruised to an opening set victory. DBU scored the first three points of the match, but the Falcons rallied to out-score the Patriots 13-2 to take an 13-5 lead and won the set on a Matthews winner at 25-16.

The Falcons trailed again early in the second set, but rallied to tie the set late at 18-18 and 20-20 on a pair of kills by Aquincia Strambler. DBU scored three straight to pull ahead 23-20, and won on a kill by Lexie Houston to take the set 25-23.

The Patriots looked poised to take the third set, doubling up the Falcons early 10-5. The Falcons scored three straight points to pull within a pair, and later in the set scored eight of 10 points to take a 16-15 lead on a pair of kills by Strambler and Matthews. Four straight runs in the latter part of the set defined the third game; DBU scored five straight to pull ahead 20-16, but the Falcons answered by scoring the next five to go back ahead 21-20. The Patriots pulled back out in front with three straight points to lead 23-21, but the Falcons responded with the last four points, including a kill by Isela Murillo, solo block from Analise Lucio, and two straight kills by Matthews for the 25-23 win.

 Another late run defined the fourth set. With the two teams playing close throughout the majority of the fourth, the Falcons closed out the match by scoring five of the last six points, winning on a big block by Strambler and Matthews for the three-point 25-22 win.

"I'm very proud of our determination tonight.  We had a "refuse to lose attitude," said Head Coach Tim Loesch. "After playing our brand of Falcon volleyball in the first game, we relaxed a little, and DBU elevated their game. We had to fight for every point after that and it was great to watch our team mount comeback after comeback. Travana, Aquinicia and Skyler dominated the net with their kills and blocks. Erika, Lanai and Megan really controlled the back row with their digging and passes.Analise Lucio set a magnificent match for us, dishing out 50 assists and doing a bit of everything else."

Matthews set a new career high with 20 kills, hitting .366 with just five errors on 41 attacks. Strambler had another big game for the Falcons, hitting .250 with 14 kills and four errors on 40 attempts. 

Analise Lucio recorded at least 50 assists for the second time this season with 50 assists on the night to lead all players. She added 18 digs, while Erika Lozano had a team-best 19 digs.