BOX SCORES
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Prairie View A&M Lady Panther volleyball team endured a rough week as they closed out the annual Southern Volleyball Tournament with an 0-3 record.
The week began on a sour note as PV fell to Texas-Pan American in five sets on Monday, Oct. 3 in Prairie View. The sour taste evaporated on Thursday evening in the Big Easy as the Lady Panthers rebounded to knock off Xavier 3-0. However, the Lady Panthers ran into a road block beginning on Friday as they squared off against three teams from the SWAC East in Baton Rouge, La.
JACKSON STATE 3, PV 0
Against Jackson State in the tourney opener, the Lady Panthers came out sluggish as they fell 25-10 in the opening set. Prairie View regrouped after the uneventful start and began set two locked in a battle with Jackson State.
Ahead 19-17, the Lady Panthers committed four costly errors from that point and allowed JSU to go on a 6-0 surge which moved JSU on top 25-19 following set two. Set three was just as intense as the first with both teams tied at 19-all once again after a kill from Bruna Menezes. JSU recorded two consecutive kills to move ahead 21-19 and the error bug hit PV again as three consecutive attack errors increased JSU's advantage to 24-19. Prairie View wouldn't go down without a fight as they climbed to within 24-22 but JSU closed the match out with a kill.
Jasmine Houston led PV with nine kills followed by 13 assists from Maria Moulaz. Breanna McNeil and Shanice Faison both had nine digs.
ALABAMA STATE 3, PV 1
Despite winning the first set, Prairie View allowed Alabama State to rally for three straight wins to claim a 3-1 victory.
PV won the first set 25-21 and was on the verge of closing set two out until the error bug struck again. Ahead 24-21, ASU drew to within 24-22 following a kill and took advantage of back-to-back PV attack errors to knot the set at 24-apiece. ASU moved ahead 25-24 but PV tied the set at 25-all after Maegan Coleman's kill. However, ASU closed out the game with a pair of kills to claim a 2-0 advantage.
In game three, the Lady Panthers committed three attack errors midway through the set which saw a 13-13 tie turn into a 17-13 deficit. PV rallied and drew to within 19-18 and 21-19 but couldn't get over the hump as ASU moved ahead 2-1 after a 4-0 surge to close out the set.
The match finale resembled the previous sets as both teams battled hard with the score knotted at 18. ASU moved ahead 21-18 but PV hung tough as they drew to within one point on three occasions. With the score at 23-22, ASU netted a kill for a two-point lead but committed an attack error which allowed PV back into the set at 24-23. Unfortunately, ASU closed out the match with a kill to claim the win.
Coleman tallied 15 kills for Prairie View A&M while McNeil finished with 33 assists and eight digs.
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 3, PV 0
Mississippi Valley State won an epic match 3-0 over Prairie View A&M which featured an historic 30-point set.
Tied 14-all in set one, MVSU scored the next three points and never looked back as they won the opener 25-19 as they outscored PV 11-5 the rest of the way.
Game two was as tight as a Boy Scout's knot with an abundance of ties and no team claiming leads by more than one point throughout the set. Down 24-23, Jasmine Houston and Jasmine Wells forced the extra point with a key block to knot the contest at 24-all. PV went up 25-24 after an MVSU attack error but MVSU rebounded with a kill for a 25-25 score.
PV became its own worst enemy as the set continued. Ahead 30-29, PV committed an attack error but bounced back to claim a 31-30 lead after a Houston kill. Unfortunately, an attack error by PV tied the game at 31-all which then turned into a 32-21 deficit on a MVSU kill. The set ended on another PV attack error which set PV back 2-0.
Set three resembled the previous set as both teams were tied at 17-all. Two attack errors by PV allowed MVSU to pull ahead 19-17 which proved to be their undoing as MVSU never relinquished the lead en route to a 25-21 victory.
Houston led PV with 10 kills while McNeil finished with 29 assists. Shanice Faison has seven digs while the tandem of Wells and Houston tallied six assisted blocks.
PV returns to action on Tuesday as they'll travel to Austin, Texas for a matchup versus Huston-Tillotson at 6:30 p.m.
