COMMERCE, Texas — UIW came into the 2025 Southland Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed, and they wasted little time in punching their ticket into the semifinal round with a convincing three set sweep over No. 5-seeded Lamar. UIW got a huge performance from First Team All-Conference honoree Calissa Allison who dished out 40 assists while also posting 22 digs. Fellow First Team All-Conference standout Kyla Malone led the UIW offense with 19 kills while hitting .326.
 
Allison started the match hot with two straight aces among a 5-0 start. Lamar was forced into a timeout early after one of many long rallies in the match went UIW’s way with a kill by Vanessa Eregie. That timeout stopped the action with UIW holding a 10-3 lead but kills by Finley Evans and an ace by libero Ashton Rogers extended the UIW lead to 14-7. Lamar struggled to consistently pass on first contact and after Kade Thomas punished two straight kills to the floor, UIW had taken a commanding 19-8 lead in the set. Calissa Allison finished the set by almost posting a double-double in the first frame as she had 13 assists and 8 digs. Lamar struggled to score on their serve in Set 1 as UIW was able to put up a 91% side-out percentage on their way to a 25-12 set win.
 
Set 2 featured side-out play early on as neither team was able to create much separation. Allison continued her dominance in the match as she posted her double-double early in the set and became UIW’s all-time leader for assists in a single season. The match was tied six times early on at each of 7-7, 9-9, 10-10, 12-12, 13-13 and 14-14. At that point, UIW went on a mini run punctuated by another Rogers ace to make it 17-14. Two Lamar kills by 1^st Team All-Conference outside hitter Maja Malinowska drew Lamar to within one at 18-17, but Malone answered for UIW by terminating her 6^th kill of the set. Malone would finish with eight kills total in Set 2 and UIW took a 2-0 set lead after finishing out the frame with a 25-21 win.
 
The third set featured a 10-0 run by UIW that included back-to-back blocks by Thomas and Eregie and then two straight aces by Kitana Tuufuli. Lamar took both of their timeouts in the set during the long run, but by the time Lamar could side UIW out of the long service hold the score stood 18-9 in favor of UIW. UIW hit .467 in the third set on their way to hitting a robust .336 for the entire match.
 
Overall, UIW got 19 kills from Malone and 10 from Evans. UIW posted a massive 74 digs in the three-set match, the fifth highest total of any three set match this year in the Southland Conference. Allison had 22 of those digs, Rogers 20 and Tuufuli 15. Kade Thomas came up big at the net with five blocks. For Lamar, they were paced by nine kills by Taisha Rhone, a 2^nd Team All-Conference honoree. Lamar also got seven kills apiece by Malinowska and Lyric Jordan while libero Gabby Baker led the Lamar side of the floor with 13 digs. Daniella Udegbunam had four blocks at the net for Lamar.
 
UIW will face the winner of the last quarterfinal match between host and #8 seeded East Texas A&M and #1 seed Stephen F. Austin. First serve for that second Saturday semifinal is slated for 5:00 PM.