SAN ANGELO, Texas (September 6, 2024) – The University of Texas Permian Basin began its new 2024 season with a tough 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 25-22) loss against the No. 23 nationally-ranked University of Central Oklahoma during the opening match of the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational hosted by Angelo State University. Then in its second match of the day, the Falcons took Fort Lewis College to the brink but fell in five sets, 3-2 (29-27, 19-25, 25-19, 23-25, 18-16).
 
Match 1 (UTPB 1, No. 23 Central Oklahoma 3):

• It was the first match as a collegiate head coach for the new leader of the Falcons, CJ Allard.
• Senior Gloria Geurin tied for the match-lead with 16 kills and hit .316 percent. She followed by sophomore Kennedi Wright with 11 kills.
• Senior April Egwu registered a match-high six blocks. She was followed by Geurin with four and senior Chyra Thompson with three as UTPB out-blocked UCO 10-9.
• Junior Jenna Gray led the Falcons in both digs (23) and assists (20). Fellow-junior Canyen Rodriguez chipped in with 17 assists.
• Four Falcons finished with 17 or more digs: Gray (23), Wright (19), senior Gabby Gregorski (18), Geurin (17). In addition to out-blocking UCO by one, the Falcons also out-dug the Bronchos by one (94-93).
• Geurin's final stat line featured 16 kills, 17 digs and four blocks.
• UTPB trailed 22-19 in the second set before scoring five straight points on a kill by Geurin, back-to-back assisted blocks first by Egwu and Wright and then by Egwu and Logan Terrazas, a solo block by Wright, and then a kill by Wright.
• That brought up set point for the Falcons up 24-22 before another kill by Wright two points later tied the match at 1-1.
• With her solo block and two kills, Wright was responsible for scoring each of UTPB's final three points of the victorious second set.
• After the Falcons ended the second set with a 6-1 run to even the match, UCO was up to the task in taking the final two sets and the match. UCO hit .318 percent in the third set and .204 percent in the fourth set to take the victory.
• In the third set, the Falcons led for most of the early going, taking leads of 8-5, 12-9 and 13-11, but were held to just four points for the remainder of the set and saw a huge 8-0 run for the Bronchos featuring four straight UTPB attack errors to make it 19-13.
• It was a back-and-forth battle throughout the fourth and final set. UTPB led 19-17 after a kill by Wright, but three straight points for UCO gave the Bronchos back the lead.
• Then tied at 20-20, back-to-back kills by senior middle blocker Jenna Karp started a stretch of three straight kills by UCO. That was followed by a service ace to get the Bronchos to match point up 24-20.
• UTPB tried to fight back with back-to-back kills by Cassandra Rother and Geurin in an effort to extend the set, but instead a kill on a dump by OCU's setter Lindsey Houran finished off what was the season opener for both teams.
• Houran had 14 of her 42 assists in the fourth set. In all, Houran guided the Bronchos' offense, passing out 42 assists to go along with 14 digs and three kills.
• Three players had 10-plus kills for UCO, led by Karp, who hit .500 with 16 kills against just two errors in 28 attacks.
• Katie Le dug up 30 UTPB attacks to pace the back-row defense for UCO.

 
Match 2 (UTPB 2, Fort Lewis 3):

• Wright led the Falcons with 15 kills in the second match of the day while Gray (27 assists) and Rodriguez (22 assists) once again split the setter duties.
• Terrazas had a great effort with eight kills, a .353 hitting percentage and six blocks.
• Egwu and Thompson matched each other with four blocks while Lauren Demuth added three blocks, all in an effort to help the Falcons out-block FLC 12-9.
• Gregorski finished with a match-high 30 digs while four other Falcons (Gray, 16; Wright, 12; Rodriguez, 11; Geurin, 10) ended with double-digit digs. After out-blocking and out-digging the opposition by one in the first match of the day, UTPB out-blocked and out-dug FLC by three in both categories this time around (led 94-91 in digs).
• After recording just one ace in the first match of the day, UTPB tallied 12 aces in the second match and was led by Rodriguez with three aces and Ashlee Macias with two.
• In the end, this one was a heartbreaker for the Falcons, who had set point in the opening set and match point in the fifth, but were unable to pull out the victory.
• In the opening set, UTPB led 20-15 before giving up five straight points and had four opportunities at set point, but was unable to close it out before LSC's Lauren Shea earned three straight kills to steal the set for the Skyhawks.
• UTPB battled back to win the second set as the final four points came on a FLC service error, a kill by Geurin, a kill by Terrazas and an FLC attack error.
• In the third set, another FLC attack error was followed by a kill by Thompson and back-to-back kills by Wright to bring the Falcons to within a point (20-19), but then four straight kills by the Skyhawks followed by a UTPB attack error gave Fort Lewis the 2-1 set lead.
• Down 23-20 in the fourth set and in risk of dropping the match right then and there, the Falcons secured five straight points bookended by kills by Demuth to steal a set themselves and force a deciding fifth set.
• Both teams then had the benefit of match point in the final set, including UTPB with a 16-15 lead after a kill by Demuth and a service ace by Macias, but back-to-back kills by the Skyhawks' Alexis Hobie and Alina Nunez followed by a service ace by Maddy Shumway ended the Falcons' hopes at earning a win on their opening day of the season.

 
Coach's Quote:

• "Obviously we're disappointed to come up short twice today, but in our commitment to trust the process, today was an amazing first step. Anytime you out-block and out-dig an opponent, which we did in both matches, you're giving yourself an amazing opportunity. We have to take more advantage offensively with those opportunities, and that's exactly what we expect to do beginning at 8 a.m. tomorrow against a much-improved New Mexico Highlands squad." – Head Coach CJ Allard.

Team Records:

• UTPB starts its season 0-2, but will have two opportunities tomorrow to get into the win column.

 
Next Up: The Falcons will finish off their stay at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational on Saturday, September 7, with an early 8 a.m. start against New Mexico Highlands University, followed by another 2 p.m. contest, this time against Emmanuel College (Ga.).