ODESSA, Texas (November 15, 2025) – Playing with the goal of getting a win on Senior Day and significantly affecting Texas A&M University-Kingsville's Lone Star Conference Tournament seeding, The University of Texas Permian Basin women's volleyball team came from behind to win the initial set and defeated the Javelinas 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22) on Saturday inside the Falcon Dome. It was Senior Day for No. 8 Canyen Rodriguez and No. 22 Andrea Urzua, who were recognized prior to the start of the match.

Ashlee Macias totaled a match-high 19 kills and added 14 digs for her ninth double-double of the season. It was also her fifth match in a row to end the year with 12-plus digs.

Makenna Grimes was next with 11 kills, followed by Jaylee Mills with eight, Lauren Demuth with six, and Nickilah Whatley with four.

Kierra Freeman also recorded a double-double, her team-leading 12th of the season, with 23 assists and 15 digs.

Kyndall Torres paced the Falcons with 17 digs.

UTPB totaled 10 blocks as a team, which tied its season high and was its most since September 26. Individually, Demuth had a part in six blocks, followed by four from Mills, three each by Macias and Grimes, and two from Whatley.

Among the seniors, Rodriguez had a season-high 21 assists and Urzua had five digs while tying for the match-high (with Freeman) with two service aces.

Each set came down to the wire, with just 12 total points (average of three per set) deciding the entire match. Macias earned two of the first three points of the day with a pair of kills, and an assisted block by Whatley and Mills made it an early 3-2 Falcons' advantage. From there, however, the Javelinas would double up the Falcons at 10-5 to force a timeout, and then added two more kills after the timeout to lead 12-5 before a kill by Macias ended what was a 10-2 scoring run for TAMUK.

UTPB got back into the action as a kill by Macias was followed by an assisted block from Grimes and Demuth and then a solo block by Demuth to make it a 15-12 deficit. UTPB inched closer as back-to-back kills by Grimes made it 17-14, and then another block by Grimes and Demuth was followed by a kill by Macias to make it just a two-point margin (18-16). The Falcons made it a two-point margin (20-18) again after back-to-back kills by Macias and Mills, and then an attack error on the Javelinas made it 20-19 and forced the first timeout of the day by TAMUK.

UTPB tied the opening set at 21-21 after a kill by Macias was followed by a kill by Mills on an overpass, and then Freeman followed with an ace off the top of the net to give the Falcons a late 22-21 lead. A strong kill by Whatley made it 23-22 Falcons, and then after an attack error on TAMUK, UTPB would win the set on another attack error by the Javelinas.

Macias totaled seven kills and six digs during the first-set victory for UTPB while for the second match in a row, Mills had four kills on .800 percent hitting after getting the start in the opening set. As a team, UTPB hit .286 percent with 15 kills and just three attack errors while TAMUK had nine attack errors in the opening set.

UTPB looked to carry the momentum into the second set and led 7-5 early on after a kill by Whatley assisted by Freeman and a kill by Mills assisted by Rodriguez. After totaling four team blocks in the first set, back-to-back assisted blocks by the Falcons broke a 10-10 tie and forced a Javelinas' timeout. An attack error by TAMUK made it 13-10, but from there the Javelinas stormed back with four straight points bookended by kills from Rylan Pollard to take the lead. Over the next nine points, TAMUK would steadily increase its lead by winning two out of every three points and went ahead by a 20-16 margin to force the final timeout of the set by UTPB.

The Falcons came out of the timeout and got back-to-back kills by Macias assisted by Rodriguez to cut their deficit in half. One of the best rallies of the match came with the score 21-19 TAMUK, and ended with a kill by Macias on a tip by the Javelinas to make it just a one-point deficit. UTPB later tied it at 23-23 in the second set after a kill by Grimes was followed by an ace by Torres. However, TAMUK got to set point with a kill by Karrington Crawford, and then won it on a kill by Pollard, who totaled six kills during the set. For the Falcons, Macias already had her double-double wrapped up with 11 kills and 10 digs. Both teams had 13 kills and seven attack errors in the second set.

UTPB led 2-0 in the third set after back-to-back TAMUK attack errors to get it started, and then another attack error on the Javelinas made it a 5-3 UTPB lead. A fourth attack error by TAMUK broke a 5-5 tie, and two points later a kill by Demuth made it 8-5. Back-to-back assisted blocks by Macias and Demuth made it 11-7, a kill by Demuth made it 12-8, and a kill by Macias made it 13-9, but TAMUK won the next four points to tie it at 13-13 and force a Falcons' timeout.

UTPB again started off strong after the timeout, getting kills from Macias and Grimes to go up 15-13 halfway through the third set, and then after the next three points went to the Javelinas, a kill by Mills tied it at 16-16. From there, UTPB began to seize control as another kill by Mills was followed by an ace by Rodriguez to make it 18-16, and then a few points later, an ace by the other senior, Urzua, was bookended by TAMUK attack errors to make it a 21-18 Falcons' lead. The third attack error by TAMUK in the last four points made it 22-18 Falcons.

A kill by Macias made it 23-20 Falcons in the waning moments of the third set, and just two points away from taking back the lead in the match with a 23-21 lead, UTPB got a solo block by Mills. The 11th and final attack error of the set by TAMUK gave UTPB the 2-1 set lead. The Falcons' defense held the Javelinas to .000 percent hitting in the crucial third set.

Neither team led by more than two points in the fourth set until a free ball led to a kill by Kimaya Webb to make it 14-11 Falcons. UTPB's 10th block of the match came on an assisted block by Macias and Demuth and got it back to a three-point lead (17-14). After a TAMUK timeout, an ace by Urzua made it 19-14 Falcons.

Trying to close out the match in four sets up 20-18, UTPB got a solo block by Mills and an ace by Freeman to make it 22-18, and then a kill by Macias made it 23-19. UTPB took a timeout ahead 23-21, TAMUK committed a service error to bring up match point, and then two points later, a kill by Mills ended it.

Coach Allard said, "If the goal is to play your best volleyball at the end of the season, mission accomplished. What a fantastic home weekend to wrap up our year, and by securing both victories this weekend, we will finish above .500 in Lone Star play for a second consecutive season – the first time in program history we accomplished that feat. There were so many spectacular individual performances today, but I think everyone stepped up in order to play their best for Canyen and Andrea, whom themselves played wonderfully. I hope this squad remembers this weekend for a long time. They earned every bit of the self-satisfaction they should feel."

UTPB finishes its season 11-16 overall and 9-8 in the Lone Star Conference, and tied for ninth place in the conference standings with Midwestern State University. It was the second year in a row under Head Coach CJ Allard that the Falcons finished with nine wins in the LSC. TAMUK (18-9, 10-7), which had already clinched a spot in the LSC Tournament coming into the final week of the season, fell from a tie for seventh place in the LSC standings to eighth place with the loss to the Falcons. It was an inspiring win for the Falcons as the Javelinas were recently slated 10th in the NCAA's most recent NCAA D2 Volleyball Regional Rankings.

TAMUK put up more digs, assists, and kills than UTPB, but the Falcons had more blocks and aces, and posted a higher team attack percentage. Kingsville's high-powered offense is, statistically, one of the most potent offenses in the conference – it averages the fourth-most kills per set, the fifth-highest attack percentage, and the fourth-most assists per set in the LSC.

In the match against the Falcons, Pollard finished with a triple-double of 10 kills, 22 assists and 13 digs. Pollard has won the LSC's weekly honor as both a Setter and an overall offensive player, becoming just the second player in the history of the conference to accomplish such a feat. She added her second SOTW award this past week. The triple-double was the 11th of her season, second in a row, and third in her last four matches, and is more than anyone else in the nation.