PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers recovered from an early deficit in the fifth set Wednesday and won a thrilling, back-in-forth match over Grambling State.

Scores of the match were 25-23, 23-25, 25-11, 15-25, and 16-14.

Mariah Cox (Denver, Colo. / New Mexico Military Institute) knocked down 13 kills, while Lenicia Tyson (Baltimore, Md. / Humble [Texas] HS) added nine kills and six blocks – three solo and three assisted – to lead the Lady Panthers.

Prairie View A&M (8-16) improved to 2-4 in Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division play and secured the fourth and final playoff berth into the SWAC's postseason tournament.

Grambling State (3-19) fell to 0-6 in division play. The loss eliminated the Tigers, who are now two games behind the Lady Panthers with two matches to go. PVAMU owns the tiebreaker by virtue of having own both head-to-head matches.

Candyce Alexander (Bedford, Texas / Missouri State–West Plains) tallied a double-double, knocking down 12 kills and handing out 29 assists. Senior libero LaKeisha Allen (McAllen, Texas / Rowe HS) led the defensive effort with 20 digs.

Prairie View A&M's Paige Chuidian (Katy, Texas / Morton Ranch HS) turned in her first collegiate double-double, handing out 14 assists and digging 11 opposition attacks. Her 11 digs also marked a career high, while her assist total tied a personal best, set last week against Arkansas–Pine Bluff.

The teams exchanged two-point victories in the first two sets, the Panthers overwhelmed their guests in set three, hitting .381 during the set. But whatever the Panthers were doing right on that side of the court in set three was mimicked by the Tigers in set four, who breezed to a 10-point win.

With the Tigers aiming for their first league win, they jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the deciding set, but the Lady Panthers responded with a 6-1 run to take their first lead of the set at 10-9. Tyson knocked down two kills and participated in two blocks during that stretch, while it was a kill from Cox that gave the Panthers the lead.

The two teams seesawed back and forth with PVAMU scoring two consecutive points to take a 14-13 lead. The Tigers then tied it up, but immediately followed that with a service error. A Grambling attack error ended the match and gave the Panthers their third fifth-set win of the year.

Briliante Osborne led the Tigers with 13 kills, while Kiara Finley added 12 kills for Grambling State.

The Panthers play their final road match of the regular season Friday when they travel to Arkansas–Pine Bluff. Match time is scheduled for 6 p.m.