AUSTIN – St. Edward's and Texas Permian Basin Falcons played an epic fifth set in a volleyball match that went down to the wire with the Hilltoppers falling short at home. 

It was a great matchup between St. Edward's MAYA SMALLS and Texas Permian Basin's Aquincia Strambler with the latter edging out Smalls 21-20 in kills and the Falcons posting a slim 56-55 advantage in kills. 

Texas Permian Basin opened the first set with a 10-5 lead and managed to keep that margin through the rest of the set with Mayce Barker out of the gates with six kills on a .257 clip. Smalls countered with four kills and Aurdrey Quesnel added two, but the two were the only Hilltopper front-row hitters to have a positive hitting percentage in a 25-20 defeat.

The Hilltopper defense smothered the Falcon attack in the second set, limiting Texas Permian Basin to a .023 hitting percentage with four blocks up front led by reserve CASSIDY COLE's three block assists. Quesnel was hyper efficient with four kills on six attacks and the Hilltoppers posted a .146 team hitting percentage to even the match with a 25-23 win.

Both teams went back and forth through the first part of the third set with six ties and four lead changes, but the Hilltoppers reeled off a 13-5 run to win the set 25-18 and take the lead 2-1. 

Strambler caught fire in the fourth set, puncturing the Hilltopper defense with seven kills on 16 attacks for a .438 hitting percentage to overwhelm St. Edward's with a 25-17 set to even the match. 

The fifth set was full of tension and drama with nine ties and five lead changes. Smalls led Southwestern with six kills on 10 attacks with an error, but a bad set and kill by Strambler ended the match with a win for Texas Permian Basin. 

St. Edward's drops to 6-15 with a 3-7 conference record. The Hilltoppers will hit the road on Wedensday to play Texas A&M Kingsville.