Aquincia Strambler, a senior outside hitter for the Falcons, had a career-best 21 kills in a five-set win over St. Edward’s on Saturday.
The Falcons have five games left in the regular season and currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot (at 11-10 overall and 6-4 in conference play) in the Lone Star Conference.
During Monday’s UTPB Press Conference, Strambler was happy in the direction her Falcons are heading to close-out the regular season.
“We are ecstatic, because this season had a lot of ups and downs,” Strambler said. “We’ve worked hard and it’s finally starting to pay off, which brings more energy and fire to our team.”
Falcons’ coach Tim Loesch, at the press conference, was thrilled that his Falcons are in this playoff position with just a handful of regular season games left, since the squad is heavy on upperclassmen.
“I think our players are starting to realize that a playoff berth is within their reach – especially the seniors and upper-class players,” Loesch said. “That’s what excites me – when they get fired up about it and want to move up in the standings. It’s exciting for me, definitely, but it’s more exciting to me when they’re excited.”
The Falcons conclude the season with five games, all against LSC teams with winning records.
Loesch felt like the team has gotten better in all facets since the start of the season.
“We’ve improved defensively and improved offensively,” Loesch said. “They’re better at reading the game and making adjustments. I think our serving and passing is improved as well.”
However, Strambler does not want to look ahead too far into the last few games for the Falcons.
“I’m really just taking it one match one game at a time because that’s what you can do,” Strambler said. “You don’t want to rush the season. We just want to make sure that we handle and take care of the task at-hand.”
>> Football
Coach Justin Carrigan was proud of how his defensive players played on Saturday night, at undefeated No. 15 Texas A&M – Kingsville, despite the close 13-10 loss in Javelina Stadium.
“Our defense backs did a great job of being in great coverage throughout the night,” Coach Carrigan said at the Monday press conference. “Defense line did a tremendous job with six sacks on the night, just as an entire unit. They all played this one quite well.”
The Falcons have four games left in the season, with only one – the season finale at Central Washington – featuring an above-0.500 team.
Carrigan does not want to overlook the Falcons’ next opponent, Midwestern State Mustangs (3-4 overall, 2-3 in LSC play).
The match is at 6 PM Saturday in Astound Broadband Stadium.
“The (Mustangs) athletes at the quarterback position are pretty different guys,” Carrigan said. “They are all very athletic and can throw the football around the field.”
>> Men’s Soccer
UTPB split last week’s games, but managed to score four goals and force their opponent – Eastern New Mexico – to go scoreless in Saturday’s 4-0 win at Falcon Field.
“It’s very exciting,” Coach Victor Domingues said in Monday’s press conference. “The players were extremely excited and happy about that.”
Domingues was also pleased that his backup goalkeeper, senior Kristian Hovind, forced the opposition to go scoreless on Saturday.
This, after the starting goalkeeper Luke Ryan suffered a concussion a little more than a week ago in a 4-1 loss to St. Mary’s on October 8.
“(Hovind) had a tremendous game, and he came into the position after an unfortunate event and he was in the zone,” Domingues said. “I’m extremely happy for him.”
>> Women’s Soccer
The Falcons currently hold the last spot for the LSC tournament, with only three games left in the regular season.
Under interim head coach Elmer Zayala, he has a focus for his girls to finish strong in these last three games.
“We need to be a little clinical in our final third,” Zayala said in Monday’s press conference. “But our defenses and set pieces are some of our strong points of our team.”
The Falcons (5-6-2 overall, 3-5-1 in conference) have only allowed only one goal over the past three matches.
“I think we need to continue the momentum of playing the way we play,” Zayala said. “I was telling the team that as long as they all keep playing the full 90 minutes, they’ll be be fine.”
The Falcons face two teams with losing records, and then finish with a home series finale against current top team in the LSC in Dallas Baptist (11-1-1, 7-1-1) on Saturday, October 29.
The Falcons’ next game is on Wednesday, against Texas A&M International (4-5-5, 1-3-5) at Falcon Field.
>> Follow Sameer Malla on Twitter at @OA_SameerMalla
