BOX SCORE
The Prairie View A&M women's volleyball team seems to have hit a stride defensively and used that momentum to string together its second-consecutive win, beating Arkansas-Pine Bluff 3-1 on Saturday afternoon in the Baby Dome.
The Lady Panthers got fluid movement from both the back row and the front row defensively. Freshman Danielle Sullivan led the team with 11 digs and right side junior Breanna McNeil added 10 digs. Freshman libero Shanice Faison secured the middle with 8 digs.
Lady Panther head coach Alicia Pete was able to coach her young team to its second win of the season and improve to 2-0 in SWAC play. She has noticed a correlation between the wins and her team's attitude.
“Its just defense,” Pete said. “Defense. Defense. Defense.”
Senior middle blockers Maegan Coleman and Jasmine Houston secured the net with two blocked attacks each. And their aggression on defense also seemed to fuel the offense.
McNeil and junior middle blocker Christine Ruckman kept Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a defensive mode with 14 kills each. McNeil also proved to be efficient with 14 kills out-of-22 total attacks.
Prairie View had a chance to sweep Arkansas-Pine Bluff as it held a 20-15 lead in the third set. However, errors let Arkansas-Pine Bluff outscore the Lady Panthers 10-3 over the final plays of the set.
“They (the Lady Panthers) are such an aggressive team,” added Pete. “Sometimes when they play a slower team instead of an aggressive team, they still play a little too aggressive rather than bringing it down to the opponent's level.”
The Lady Panthers recovered to demolish Arkansas-Pine Bluff 25-11 in the last set which improved their record to 2-12 (2-0 SWAC) on the season. Pete wants to see her team keep up its intensity through conference play.
“We're just trying to keep the girls focused and keep pushing them hard in practice,” Pete said. “As long as they perform in practice, they will be able to go in a game. “
Prairie View A&M returns to action on Tuesday night as they'll face TSU in a SWAC showdown in Prairie View at 7 p.m. The contest will be intense as TSU is led by former PV head coach Jocelyn Adams.
