ODESSA, Texas – Eastern New Mexico volleyball dropped their first Lone Star Conference road match of the season by a final score of 3-1 to UT-Permian Basin.

The Hounds (4-6, 2-1 LSC) were unable to slow down a Falcon (6-4, 1-1 LSC) offense that posted team hitting percentages of higher than .300 in all three set victories and finished the match with a team hitting percentage of .300 for the match. Eastern New Mexico posted a 25-16 second set victory that featured 15 kills on 25 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .560.

Sophomore Jasmine Gannon had a team-high 16 kills to continue her streak of 10 or more kills while junior Sarah Tuioti-Mariner was second on the team with 10 kills. Gannon posted a season high attack percentage of .536 in the match and seniors Kaitlyn Kluna and Alba Ontiveros recorded 13 and 17 digs respectively.

Eastern fell behind 12-7 in the opening set of action and never regained their momentum as the Falcons cruised to an opening set 25-15 victory. The Hounds responded well to the early set struggles and pieced together one of their most efficient offensive outputs of the season in the second set to return the favor with a 25-16 victory.

Gannon put down seven of her 16 kills for the match in the second set as the Hounds looked to battle their way back into the match in the third set. With the score knotted up at 20-20 late in the third, two key attack errors from Eastern set the Falcons up with a 23-21 lead that they eventually closed out to gain the 2-1 advantage in the match.

A 9-1 run at the midway point of the match for UTPB set the home squad up to be able to comfortably close out the set and match by a 25-16 final.

Eastern New Mexico will look to put the loss behind them and reset for their home opener Friday night inside Greyhound Arena with a match set for 6 p.m. against Angelo State.