PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – With majority of its non-conference volleyball schedule behind them, the Prairie View A&M University volleyball team will now look to open Southwestern Athletic Conference play on the right foot as they compete in the SWAC West Round Up on the campus of Texas Southern starting Friday.
 
"We are excited to finally see all the teams in our conference," said head volleyball coach Tacho Tyler.  "I feel as though we are prepared and ready for a win.  No better time to do that than in conference play."
 
The Lady Panthers will open its schedule on Friday, for a 12:30 p.m. match against Alabama A&M. Last season, PVAMU squared off with the Bulldogs three times, with Alabama A&M winning two of three, including knocking the Lady Panthers out of the SWAC Tournament. 
 
"We are looking forward to opening up against Alabama A&M," Tyler exclaimed.  "The ladies from last year remember the tournament game and have been talking about this the last few days.  We feel like we owe them for knocking us out of the tournament early last year.  We just hope to go in and get a win against them."
 
PVAMU will continue SWAC play with a 3 p.m. set against Mississippi Valley also on Friday.  The Lady Panthers will then turn to the defending SWAC Champions Alabama State at 10 a.m. on Saturday.  That game will be followed by a Saturday night match against Jackson St. at 7 p.m. The round up will close out on Sunday with a final match against Alcorn St. at 12:30.
 
"We hope that we compete on a high level no matter who we play and really set the tone as the SWAC conference play continues," Tyler said.  "We know that when we face a team like Alabama State, we are going to have to be really disciplined.  They have been atop of the conference since coach Penny Lucas White has been there.  We are going to have to really come in focus and prepared for them. We are not sleeping on anybody in the conference this weekend.  I think any given day it could be anybody.  We will go in focused, play our game regardless who is on the other side of the net and definitely focus on serve, receive and put the ball away."
 
The Lady Panthers are paced by the lone senior Taylor Goudeau in knocking the ball down.  She is second in the conference with a .256 hitting percentage, and first on the team and in the conference hitting a 3.17 average in kills.  Junior Christen Augustine is fourth in the conference and leads the team in digs averaging 3.50.  Both junior Mykaeli Franklin and Erica Jimenez are leading the team in dishing out the assists for the Lady Panthers (47).
 
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