UTPB Athletics

ODESSA, Texas (October 10, 2024) – The University of Texas Permian Basin volleyball team won the first set by five points and lost the second set by just two points, but a rough third set put the Falcons behind the eight ball and led to a 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-15) loss at home against Texas Woman's University.

After hitting .250 percent in each of the first two sets, TWU hit .412 percent in the third set and limited UTPB to under .150 percent hitting in each of the final three sets.

The Pioneers held the Falcons to their lowest hitting percentage of the season, as UTPB hit .109 on the night. In the fourth set, the Falcons hit -0.1. TWU finished the night hitting .235.

UTPB broke a 16-16 tie in the opening set with a 4-0 mini-run bookended by kills by Gloria Geurin.

Back-to-back kills by Cassandra Rother and Kennedi Wright made it 22-17 Falcons, and then two more kills for Rother put UTPB up by scores of 23-18 and 24-19, respectively, before a kill by Chyra Thompson two points later gave the first set to the home team.

UTPB had a match-high 19 kills in the opening set.

After just one tie and no lead changes in the first set, there were 17 ties and eight lead changes in the second set.

The Falcons led 22-21 in the second set and had a chance to go up two sets to zero, but instead saw the Pioneers take advantage of three straight UTPB attack errors to get TWU to set point.

After tying the match with a win in the second set, TWU left the Falcons dazed with leads of 6-0, 9-1 and 14-3 in the third set.

The Pioneers finished the third set with 17 blocks and just three attack errors.

After recording five blocks in the victorious first set, including three by Lauren Demuth, UTPB did not get another block until late in the third set.

A 6-0 run for UTPB gave the Falcons an early 6-2 lead in the fourth set.

A solo block by Thompson and a kill by Wright made it 9-7 Falcons, but a 5-0 run for the Pioneers would mark the final lead change of the match.

The score was 15-12 TWU before the wheels came off for UTPB. TWU scored six straight points on a run that featured four Falcon attack errors and ultimately finished off the match on a 10-3 run. UTPB had just seven kills compared to 12 attack errors in the final set.

Rother led UTPB with 10 kills and hit .308 percent. She was the only Falcon to hit over .300 percent for the match.

Dishing out the assists was Jenna Gray with 23 and Canyen Rodriguez with 16. Gray also added 11 digs for her second straight and team-leading sixth overall double-double of the year.

Wright had 13 digs and was one kill (9) short of her second-straight double-double as well.

Thompson had nine kills and Geurin added eight.

Defensively, Gabby Gregorski had 23 digs, which was good for her second straight and seventh match overall this season with at least 20 digs.

Freshman Ashlee Macias logged five kills and a career-high eight digs.

TWU (10-5 overall, 3-2 Lone Star Conference) recorded its third straight win and beat UTPB (9-5, 2-3) on the road in Odessa, Texas, for the first time since 2017.

Head Coach CJ Allard said, "All the credit to Texas Woman's. They took that first-set loss, made a few tweaks, and played three of the best sets they've played all season. We certainly had good effort those last three sets, but high-level teams with postseason aspirations require far more effort to beat them. We'll regroup for another opportunity to play in front of our amazing supporters Saturday afternoon."

UTPB will look to rebound on Saturday, October 12, as the Falcons remain at home to host Midwestern State University at 2 p.m.