DALLAS, Texas (November 2, 2024) – For the second match in as many days, The University of Texas Permian Basin women's volleyball team took on a top-five team in the Lone Star Conference on the road, this time falling 3-1 (25-13, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23) on Saturday at No. 25-ranked Dallas Baptist University. It was the third time this season the Falcons took a set off of a nationally-ranked opponent.

The cornerstone of the Falcons this year has been their defense, leading the Lone Star Conference in blocks per set (2.32) and opponent hitting percentage (.144) entering the week, but Dallas Baptist got off to a hot start offensively and hit at least .250 percent in all four sets and at least .375 percent in three sets.

Similarly to its first set the night before, UTPB struggled, hitting an even .000 percent (4 kills, 4 attack errors) while allowing DBU to hit .448 percent with 16 kills.

Karly Wells (7 kills) and Delaney Fuller (6 kills) combined for 13 kills in the first set for DBU while nobody had more than one kill in the opening set for UTPB.

UTPB looked to find its offense in the second set and took the lead after a kill by Kennedi Wright, a service ace by Gabby Gregorski and back-to-back bad sets by DBU made it 20-19 Falcons and forced a timeout from the Lady Patriots.

That was followed by a third straight bad set by DBU, a second ace by Gregroski, and then a kill from Cassandra Rother to make it a 7-0 run and a four-point Falcons' lead (23-19).

The fifth and final kill of the set by Wright gave the Falcons set point up 24-20, and an attack error by the Lady Patriots two points later tied the match at one set apiece.

In all, there were eight ties and three lead changes in the second set.

Unfortunately, the third set looked a lot like the first set as DBU won by 10 points.

UTPB got off to a hot start in the fourth set, leading 3-0 and later 10-6.

A kill by Chyra Thompson was followed by an ace by Canyen Rodriguez to make it 13-10 and bring about a DBU timeout as the Lady Patriots tried to find a way to slow down a Falcons' offense that was hitting .438 percent to that point in the set.

DBU was able to charge back and tie it at 14-14 and force a UTPB timeout, and then it became a 6-0 Lady Patriots' run to put DBU up 17-14.

UTPB committed three attack errors and a bad set during that run, but a kill by Grace Feddern and a DBU attack error got the Falcons back to within one at 18-17.

A kill by Fuller started a 3-0 spurt for the Lady Patriots that made it 21-17 after a kill by Wells, who added two more kills to make it 22-19 and 23-20, respectively, and force the second UTPB timeout of the set.

After DBU got to set point (24-20) thanks to the eighth kill of the match by Shaylee Shore, a service error was followed by back-to-back kills by Thompson and Wright to get the Falcons to within one point again (24-23) and force the second Lady Patriots' timeout of the set.

Unfortunately, a kill by Aryn Walton on the next point was all she wrote.

DBU hit .356 for the match, making it two matches in a row the Falcons have allowed their highest opponent hitting percentage of the season. DBU is one of the LSC's most potent offenses, now holding the league's second spot in hitting percentage (.251).

Wells and Fuller finished with 17 and 15 kills, respectively, for the Lady Patriots. Fuller is one of the best outside hitters in the country, leading the LSC and ranking among the top-12 nationally in kills per set (4.46), points per set (4.97), and total kills (366). Wells and Fuller are one of two pairs of teammates in the LSC who sit in the top-10 in the conference in all three of the aforementioned statistics.

For UTPB, Thompson hit .429 percent and matched Wright with a team-high eight kills while Rother, Logan Terrazas and Gloria Geurin all added five kills. Feddern played in all three sets and had a season-high of four kills.

It was a typical spreading of the wealth offensively for UTPB, as four players have at least 120 kills on the season and average at least 1.94 kills per set (Geurin, Rother, Thompson, and Wright).

DBU, which was ranked for the first time ever earlier this season, improves to 10 matches above .500 overall (16-6) and reaches the 10-win mark in LSC play (10-2) with its win on Senior Day.

UTPB, meanwhile, falls to 12-9 overall and 5-7 in the LSC and needs to make up some ground in the conference standings over the next two weeks if the Falcons want to make the postseason.

With the two tough losses this week against very good competition, it was UTPB's first consecutive result since back-to-back losses against No. 10 West Texas A&M University (Sept. 28) and Texas A&M University-Kingsville (Oct. 4).

It will be an important week next week as UTPB hosts St. Mary's University at 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 7. Eighth-place St. Mary's is 14-9 overall and is one match up on the Falcons in the LSC standings at 6-6, so a win would go a long way in helping the Falcons' chances at making the postseason.

The top-eight teams in the Lone Star Conference regular season standings at season's end will qualify for the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament on November 21-23. The No. 1 overall seed will host the eight-team bracket.