AAMU BOX

SU BOX

WESTWEGO, La. - The Prairie View A&M Lady Panther volleyball team suffered an untimely result this past weekend as they were eliminated after the first day of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament in Louisiana.

The Lady Panthers opened up tourney action in style as they earned a 3-0 sweep over Mississippi Valley in the first round.  Junior Breanna McNeil tallied 10 kills in the opener followed by 36 assists from Maria Moulaz and 11 digs by Shanice Faison. 

After winning their opener, the Lady Panthers were matched up against SWAC volleyball power Alabama A&M in round two.  In a match that resembled a heavyweight prizefight, Prairie View A&M dropped the opening set 26-24 before rallying in set two en route to a 26-24 victory.  AAMU claimed set three 25-19 but PV wouldn't be denied as they fought back in set four to force a fifth and final set after winning 25-20.  In set five, neither team would pull away until midway through the set as AAMU's Clairissa Moore recorded three consecutive kills for a 10-7 advantage.  PV responded back with kills from Bruna Menezes and Jasmine Houston to narrow its deficit to 10-9 but AAMU held on and upped its lead to 14-11.

Down by three points and facing match point, the Lady Panthers refused to back down as McNeil and Christina Ruckman logged back-to-back kills followed by an AAMU attack error which tied the set at 14-all and sent it into deuce play.  Unfortunately, an attack error by PV gave AAMU the lead on the next play followed by a Lady Bulldog kill dropped the Lady Panthers into the loser's bracket.

In its last match of the tournament versus divisional foe Southern University, Prairie View A&M looked like it was down and out early after dropping two sets in a row by scores of 25-17 and 25-22. Facing elimination, the Lady Panthers rallied and won the next two sets by identical scores of 25-20 which forced a fifth set and a chance to advance to the SWAC Tournament's final four.

However, Prairie View A&M dropped the fifth and final set in a 15-8 decision which eliminated them from tournament action.

Despite the loss, Prairie View A&M came away with a few individual honors, as the 2011 All-SWAC teams were announced. Senior middle hitter and middle blocker Jasmine Houston earned first-team honors. Houston was second on the team with 180 kills and led Prairie View with 21 blocks.

The Lady Panthers had three players to make the second team in junior Maria Moulaz, freshman Shanice Faison and junior Christina Ruckman.  Moulaz finished third in the conference with a 7.15 assist average per game while Faison's 3.42 assist per game average was fifth in the SWAC. Ruckman was Prairie View A&M's leader in kills with 216.