DENTON, Texas (October 25, 2025) – Playing against arguably the best defense in the Lone Star Conference so far this season, The University of Texas Permian Basin volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-13) at fourth-place Texas Woman's University on Saturday. TWU is one of the league's top defensive teams, ranking second in the conference in blocks per set (2.48) and third in both digs per set (18.15) and in opponents' hitting percentage (.144) coming into the match.

It was similar to last Saturday's matchup at Angelo State University in which UTPB (7-13 overall, 5-5 LSC) battled hard in the opening set before falling by double digits in each of the final two sets.

TWU (14-7, 7-3), meanwhile, was coming off a 3-0 sweep vs. Angelo State the night before, its fourth sweep in its last five matches. It marked the Pioneers' first win over the Rambelles since 2018 and first sweep of ASU since 2013. TWU held ASU to just nine points in the second set – its lowest set point total of the season and lowest since 2023. In addition, TWU held ASU to hitting just .083 on the night, which marked its second lowest hitting percentage in a match this season.

In this match between UTPB and TWU, the Falcons were led by Ashlee Macias with eight kills while Makenna Grimes had seven and freshman Bentleigh Bundy had a season-high five kills. In addition, Nickilah Whatley had five kills and four blocks while Kyndall Torres had 11 digs.

In the first set, back-to-back blocks by the Pioneers pushed them out to an early 7-2 lead. TWU would not trail throughout the entirety of set one. UTPB trailed by scores of 7-2, 11-4, 13-6 and 17-9 in the first set before four straight kills by Bundy, Demuth, Bundy again, and then Grimes cut the deficit to just two points (21-19). An assisted block by Grimes and Whatley made it 23-21 and a kill by Whatley made it 24-22, but an assisted block for the Pioneers, their fourth block of the opening set, ended it. The Pioneers would total at least four blocks in all three sets.

UTPB hit .222 percent in the opening set, but saw TWU hit .323 percent. The Pioneers would also hit over .280 percent in all three sets.

In addition to being outhit .301-.065 and being held to its third-lowest hitting percentage of the season, UTPB was out-blocked 14-5. It was the second most blocks allowed by the Falcons so far this season and was the seventh match for TWU of the season with 10 or more blocks.

One match after leading Dallas Baptist University 9-0 in service aces, UTPB trailed 6-0 in aces against the Pioneers.

"Unfortunately for us, Texas Woman's presents some challenges defensively that really exploited our offensive inefficiencies," spoke UTPB Head Coach CJ Allard. "We'll need to bounce back quickly as the Lone Star Conference is sending us on the road yet again for another Tuesday match."

Next up, UTPB will finish off its current stretch of four straight road matches at Sul Ross State University at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 28. The last time this season the Falcons played in a Tuesday night conference match, they fell 3-2 at Western New Mexico University (Oct. 7).