SAN ANGELO, Texas (September 5, 2025) – The University of Texas Permian Basin women's volleyball team began its new 2025 season with a 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 33-31) loss against Adams State University during the opening match of the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational hosted by Angelo State University. The match between the Falcons and the Grizzlies saw the final two sets need extra scoring, especially the third set, which saw both team's score into the 30's. Then in its second match of the day, UTPB fell 3-2 (25-17, 15-25, 25-27, 25-23, 15-13) against Southern Nazarene University. In the end, UTPB lost four sets on opening day by just two points.
 
Match 1 (UTPB 0, Adams State 3):

• Despite the tough loss for the Falcons, the highlight of the match for UTPB was sophomore outside hitter Ashlee Macias, who recorded 23 kills on 54 attempts, finishing just one kill shy of breaking into the top-five single-match kill record for UTPB.
• Macias also added 12 digs and was one of two Falcons with a double-double as sophomore setter Kierra Freeman finished with 36 assists and 18 digs.
• Sophomore middle hitter Lauren Demuth reached double-digits in kills with 10 while transfer liberos Isabel Rodriguez (17 digs) and Andrea Urzua (11 digs) both reached double-digits in digs.
• UTPB trailed 10-9 in the first set of the season after a kill by Macias, but then allowed ASU to rattle off five straight points, the final three of which came on back-to-back kills by Olivia Lunt before an assisted block by Lunt and Katie Bauer to make it 15-9.
• A kill by the setter, Freeman, followed by a solo block by Macias got the Falcons to within three, 20-17, and then back-to-back kills by Macias made it a two-point deficit, 21-19, forcing a Grizzlies' timeout.
• That was followed by a service ace from Urzua, making it 21-20, but an attack error by the Falcons gave the momentum back to ASU.
• A bad set by the Falcons gave ASU set point, and two points later UTPB dropped the opening set 25-22.
• Macias totaled nine kills on .438 percent hitting in the opening set while Freeman was on double-double pace with eight assists and eight digs.
• Three kills by Demuth helped give the Falcons an edge early in the second set, and then Demuth's fourth kill of the set gave the Falcons a 12-11 lead.
• A kill by freshman Makenna Grimes made it 16-14 Falcons and brought about a Grizzlies' timeout, but up 20-17, ASU went on a 5-0 run and got a big block assist when tied at 20-20 to take back the lead.
• A kill by Macias finally stopped the Grizzlies' run, but it would not be enough to stop the momentum as tied 24-24 after another kill by Demuth, ASU got back-to-back kills to win the set 26-24 and take a 2-0 set lead.
• Macias added five more kills to her ledger early in the third set, the last of which tied it at 9-9 before a 4-0 run by ASU.
• UTPB then went on a run of its own to set up what would be an epic third set.
• Tied at 17-17 after a service ace by I. Rodriguez, the Falcons tied it again at 18-18 on a kill by Demuth, took the lead at 19-18 on a Grizzlies' attack error, went ahead 20-18 on an ace by freshman Kyndall Torres, took a 21-18 advantage after a kill by Macias and a blocking error on the Grizzlies, and then capped off the 5-0 run with a second-straight kill by Macias.
• That made it 22-18 UTPB, and a kill by Demuth made it 23-20, but three straight points from the Grizzlies, the last two on Falcon attack errors, tied it at 23-23.
• After a Falcons' timeout, ASU got a kill to get itself to match point, but a block assist by Freeman and Demuth extended the match.
• Another block assist by Jaylee Mills and Amyah Collins tied it at 26-26 to keep the match going, and then Macias' 23rd kill of the match tied it at 27-27.
• UTPB finally got itself to set point with a kill by Freeman, making it 29-28 and forcing a timeout by ASU.
• The Grizzlies came out of the timeout with back-to-back kills to take back the lead (30-29), and then after an incredibly long rally, Demuth got a kill to fall and tie it at 30-30.
• Grimes stepped up with her fifth kill of the match to make it 31-30 Falcons, but ASU was able to win it 33-31 on an assisted block by Rowan Tribelhorn and Makylee Wilson and then a solo block by Wilson.
• UTPB led the match in kills (47-44), aces (5-3), assists (44-43) and digs (76-66), but trailed 12-5 in blocks. It was the second-most blocks given up in the Coach CJ Allard era so far.

 
Match 2 (UTPB 2, Southern Nazarene 3):

• UTPB trailed 11-4 and 13-5 in the first set before a 4-0 run featuring back-to-back aces by Freeman and ending with a kill by Grimes made it 14-10.
• A nice kill by Nickilah Whatley made it 19-15 before three straight points by the Crimson Storm on a kill by Brelee Maludin, a kill by Hannah Morgan and an assisted block by Mauldin and Morgan.
• UTPB hit .344 percent (13 kills, 2 errors) in the opening set, but saw SNU hit .400 (14 kills, 2 errors). Individually, Macias had seven kills on .667 percent hitting in the first set while Freeman had all 12 of her assists in the opening frame.
• In the second set, Macias' sixth kill of the set gave UTPB a 15-11 advantage. As Macias nailed back-to-back kills to get the Falcons to set point, UTPB was able to close out the set on a 7-0 run to win it 25-15.
• For the second match in a row, Macias had 15 kills to her credit through two sets. She was hitting .737 percent at that point in the match while UTPB was hitting .429 after finishing at .516 percent during the second set.
• Coach Allard was able to get some other players some playing time in the third set, but tied at 22-22 late in the set, a missed dig by the Falcons on a kill by the Crimson Storm was followed by a UTPB attack error to give SNU set point.
• A service error by SNU followed by a kill by Whatley tied it at 24-24, and then a bad set by SNU gave UTPB set point.
• This time, UTPB was able to win a set in extra scoring as a kill by Grimes and a kill by Precious Johnson gave the Falcons a 27-25 victory and a 2-1 set lead.
• Whatley and Grimes both had five kills in the third set for UTPB.
• With the Falcons down 19-16 in the fourth set and in risk of going to a fifth set, UTPB tied it at 19-19 after back-to-back kills by Whatley and Demuth, followed by an SNU attack error. Then down 23-21, UTPB tied it again thanks to a bad set by SNU and another kill by Whatley.
• However, a UTPB service error gave set point to SNU, which closed out the set with a UTPB attack error for a 25-23 win.
• In the fifth and final set, a pair of kills by Demuth tied the match at 6-6 and 7-7 before a service ace by Macias made it 8-7 Falcons halfway through.
• The next two points went to SNU on a kill by the Crimson Storm and a bad set on the Falcons, but UTPB battled back to win the next three points on thee straight SNU attack errors, giving the Falcons an 11-9 lead.
• A kill by Whatley made it 13-11 Falcons. Tied at 13-13, UTPB took a timeout, but a long rally ended with a kill by the Crimson Storm (Mauldin), resulting in a second Falcons' timeout.
• Mauldin finished off the match with her fifth kill of the final set and 16th of the match to give SNU the win.
• For UTPB, Whatley also finished with 16 kills, followed by Macias with 15, Grimes with 10 and Demuth with eight.
• Freshman setter Emma Gonzalez led with 17 assists, followed by senior Canyen Rodriguez with 14.
• In all, four Falcons had double-digits assists in the match as I. Rodriguez finished with 30 digs and 10 assists. I. Rodriguez finished just seven digs shy of breaking into the top-five single-match digs record for the Falcons. She was also one of three Falcons with a double-double as Gonzalez added 14 digs and Grimes added 11 digs.
• The Falcons were held to .074 percent hitting (7 kills, 5 errors) in the fifth set.
• As the scoreline would indicate, the team statistics were very close as UTPB led 75-74 in points, 64-63 in kills, 5-4 in blocks and 77-75 in digs while assists were tied at 57-57.

 
Coach's Quote:

• "In our two matches today, we were led by Isabel Rodriguez's poise, communication and first touch. To average 5.88 digs per set on your first day being our libero is impressive, and that play from her in the backcourt will give us chances. Our current status as the highest offensive error team in the country absolutely handcuffed any chance of success we hoped for today. Also, a special shoutout to Ashlee Macias for absolutely shattering our previous school record for attack percentage against Southern Nazarene. Hitting .737 percent on 19 attempts insane and is a great indicator on how ready Ashlee is to lead this team." – Head Coach CJ Allard.

Next Up: The Falcons will finish off their stay at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational on Saturday, September 6, with an afternoon start (1 p.m.) against No. 23 nationally-ranked Colorado Mesa University. That will be followed by UTPB's final match at 5:30 p.m. against the University of Arkansas at Monticello.