PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The PVAMU volleyball team will highlight breast cancer awareness with its annual Dig Pink match tonight versus Arkansas–Pine Bluff inside the Baby Dome at 6:30 p.m. The team will honor members of the university community and family members of the team's players who are breast cancer survivors.

Faculty members Donna Broussard, Dr. Laurette Foster, Dr. Donna Laws, Kay Peavy, Carla Ragston, and Wanda Ross will be honored at the 10-minute intermission between sets two and three. Beth Hensch, mother of freshman Calli Jordan Hensch, and Debi Esteves, grandmother of freshman Mykaeli Franklin, will also be among the honorees.

The Lady Panthers teamed up with the SideOut Foundation for the team's annual Dig Pink match, which helps raise funding and awareness for breast cancer research.

In preparation for the Dig Pink match, the Lady Panthers volleyball team raised more than $2,000 in t-shirt sales leading up the event. Prairie View A&M cheerleaders, the Panther Dolls, the Student Government Association, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Students Against Cancer all contributed time and resources in raising funds, according to head coach TaCho Tyler.

If anyone wishes to donate to the Dig Pink cause, one can text "SIDEOUT PANTHERS" to 50555 to make a $10 donation. Donors will receive an automatic response text to confirm the donation.

Volleyball History Recognized
Before the match, a pregame ceremony will take place as the first volleyball coach in school history, Phillip Chapman, will present a volleyball used by the inaugural team at PVAMU.

Chapman, who came to Prairie View A&M as a graduate student in 1980, served as the university's volleyball coach during its first two varsity seasons, in 1985 and 1986.
 
Chapman received his master's degree in physical education from Prairie View A&M in 1983. He served as an assistant men's basketball coach under head coach Jim DuPlantier until 1985, when he was tasked with starting the varsity volleyball program.
 
Chapman currently resides in Greenville, S.C., with his wife of 38 years, Dorcas Rebecca (McKnight) Chapman. The couple has three children, Phillip Jr., Marcus, and Karynn.