ODESSA, Texas - The Pioneers ended their weekend in a tough spot Saturday, falling 3-2 to the Falcons in an exhausting conference matchup.

Coming off yesterday's five-set loss to Western New Mexico, Texas Woman's (11-7, 3-5 LSC) fought hard to keep on the attack against UT-Permian Basin (10-7, 5-4 LSC), but couldn't close the deal and dropped this match also in five (20-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-27, 11-15).

"It happens on the road," TWU head coach Jeff Huebner said. "If you don't stay aggressive and take advantage of every opportunity it can slip away."

The first set remained close for both teams, with juniors Courtney Noel and Maggie Pyles doing most of the heavy lifting in kills for TWU. The Pioneers struggled to get the lead and hold it, and lost any momentum right at the end on four straight attack errors, handing UTPB the first frame.

TWU regained its form and found its rhythm in the second and third sets, however, bringing up its overall hitting percentage and this time taking advantage of Falcon errors. Senior Makayla Mayfield increased her attack tremendously by the third set, helping the Pioneers earn a two sets to one lead.

"If we're executing, we're a better team, and I don't know that there are many teams in our conference that can compete with us when we do the right things," Huebner said. "But you've got to take chances when you're on the road, you've got to stay aggressive and I think that's where we missed out today."

After a shaky start to the fourth set, the Pioneers got on a five-point streak before a spread-out Falcons offense started to close the gap. The battle for set point looked to be in TWU's reach after kills from Mayfield and freshman Elizabeth Ugbaja, but freshman Aquinicia Strambler ended the set for UTPB, 25-27, with two kills in a row that handed the Pioneers their second straight loss.

"We had opportunities to lock it down and play with some urgency," Huebner said. "We were 2up a bunch of points in the fourth set and didn't capitalize on the opportunities given to us. We got a little sloppy on the game plan."

After taking the fourth set, the Falcons came out swinging, widening their lead to seven at 13-6 in the fifth. The Pioneers were not able to recover, despite Pyles rallying the TWU attack with consecutive kills to fend off two game points for UTPB, and lost 15-11.

Pyles registered a double-double thanks to her 19 kills and 17 digs. Freshman Trixie Oche led the team in hitting percentage with a .333 on 10 kills followed by Noel who hit .302 and had 16 kills.

"Courtney and Trixie really did a good job for us today," Huebner said. "Both played really strong and were available and really kept us in there in the fourth and fifth set."

The Pioneers return home to face Eastern New Mexico at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5 in another Lone Star Conference contest.