ODESSA, Texas (September 27, 2025) – Coming off a victorious conference opener on Friday, The University of Texas Permian Basin volleyball team was unable to close out the sets necessary to improve to 2-0, and instead fell 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25) at home against St. Mary's University on Saturday.

It was a battle between two teams with identical 3-8 overall records coming in, but it was StMU that picked up win number four while also earning its first conference win of the year. In addition, it was the end of a three-match winning streak for the Falcons against the Rattlers and was UTPB's first loss at home against StMU in their last seven meetings inside the Falcon Dome.

Similarly to UTPB's 3-1 win over StMU last season, the final statistics were extremely close as StMU led 75-70 in points, 9-7 on aces and 10-6 on blocks while UTPB led 57-56 on kills, 52-50 on assists and 89-85 on digs. Both teams had 20 attack errors while UTPB hit .208 and StMU hit .199. In addition, both teams had six service errors.

Ashlee Macias led UTPB with 16 kills and a career-high 18 digs for her third double-double in her four matches played this season. She also added three service aces. Last season against the Rattlers, Macias recorded 10 kills to go along with a then career-best of 14 digs for what was the second double-double of her freshman campaign.

Just as she did a year ago against the Rattlers, Lauren Demuth had a huge match and finished with 13 kills on .345 percent hitting while adding eight digs and two big solo blocks, both in the fourth set.

Makenna Grimes totaled 12 kills, half of which came in the final set for UTPB.

Among the setters, Kierra Freeman totaled 36 assists and nine digs while Emma Gonzalez had a strong all-around match with 11 assists, 10 digs and four service aces.

Lastly, libero Kyndall Torres had 21 digs for the second match in a row.

UTPB led 9-6 in the first set after getting off to a hot start with six kills and just one attack error, but then fell behind 14-12 after a 5-0 run for StMU. A pair of kills by Demuth kept UTPB close down 17-16 before a pair of kills by Macias tied it at both 18-18 and 19-19. The Falcons then led 20-19 after a block assist by Sydney Bradley and Nickilah Whatley, but saw the Rattlers win the final four points of the set on a UTPB attack error, a service ace, a kill and a bad set.

Three service aces early in the second set helped give StMU an 8-2 lead. UTPB got an assisted block by Whatley and Freeman to draw to within two (13-11), and that later became an 8-2 run as the Falcons jumped ahead 16-15 on back-to-back attack errors by the Rattlers' Kelly Swyers. After StMU took the next two points on back-to-back kills to take back the lead at 17-16, UTPB would close out its lone set win of the day on a 9-2 run, including a big kill by Grimes to break a 18-18 tie.

There were a total of 28 ties and 12 lead changes throughout the four sets, including seven ties each in the third and fourth sets.

A successful challenge by Head Coach CJ Allard resulted in a kill by Macias to start a 4-0 Falcons' run to take a 7-5 lead early in the third set. UTPB later led 9-6 on an ace by Gonzalez, 10-7 on a kill by Demuth, and 13-11 on a dig by Freeman that dropped in for a kill. However, after a 5-1 run Rattlers' run to take a two-point lead (16-14), back-to-back kills by Demuth tied it at 16-16. Late in the set, UTPB cut a 20-17 deficit to a one-point deficit (21-20), but the Rattlers won the final four points of the set on a kill, an ace, a UTPB attack error and a kill to take a 2-1 set lead.

The fourth set was all StMU early as the Rattlers led 12-5. UTPB got to within 13-9 after back-to-back aces by Macias, and then the second solo block of the set by Demuth made it 14-11. UTPB inched closer as a kill by Grimes made it 15-12, a kill by Macias made it 16-14 and another kill by Grimes made it 18-16. 14 of StMU's first 18 points in the final set came via the kill. The Falcons were able to battle and keep it close as a pair of kills by Whatley made it 19-17 and later 20-18, the latter of which was award after another successful challenge by the Falcons. A 4-0 Falcons' run featuring kills by Grimes, Macias, Demuth and again Grimes gave UTPB a late 22-21 lead, and one more kill by Grimes tied it at 23-23, but StMU closed out the match with kills by Dallasstar Johnson and Landri Withers.

Withers, a senior from Stephenville, Texas, tied her career-high with 23 kills and broke the St. Mary's four-set record during the modern scoring era (2008-present). This is the 50th edition of St. Mary's University volleyball, which was chosen to finish sixth in the extremely competitive Lone Star Conference in 2025. In addition to being chosen to finish in the top one-third of the league, the Rattlers return 14 players from last season and have a lineup that features eight players who started in more than one match last season. It is the opposite of the Falcons who have just four returners on this year's squad.

Head Coach CJ Allard spoke on the Falcons' effort today, "Today we were not quite strong enough in front of another fantastic home crowd. I made a defensive adjustment which partially paid off as our defensive efficiency allowed our offense to outpace an experienced, senior-led St. Mary's attack, but there were a few rotations where we did not have enough potential targets, and that offensive overload on Ashlee as seen by her 61 swings wore her down by the critical four set. We took a positive step this weekend and look to carry that momentum ingo next weekend with a return trip to Oklahoma."

The Falcons are back in action next weekend as they hit the road for the first time in conference play this season. UTPB will play back-to-back matches in Oklahoma, starting at Cameron University at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 3, and ending at Oklahoma Christian University at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 4. It will be the Falcons' second matchup this season against the Eagles of Oklahoma Christian.