ABILENE, TX. — After playing the Abilene Christian Wildcats just five days ago the Prairie View A&M volleyball team had a change to get their revenge, but just couldn't pull it off as the dropped another hard fought thriller match to the Wildcats on the opening day of the 2019 Abilene Christian Wildcat Classic 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 17-25, 25-22, 12-15)

In the first set, the Lady Panthers held the lead until the teams tied at 12-12.  Prairie View A&M trailed closely following a 5-0 run, dropping the deficit to as low 19-18 towards the end of the period. Despite another small push, the team was edged 25-23. 

PVAMU came out with a strong 4-0 lead in the second set. The team extended their lead 14-8, holding on to it despite a 6-2 ACU run that brought the score to 16-14. The Lady Panthers went on to win the set 25-20 and tie the match 1-1. 

Set three saw an early deficit resulting in the team being down 12-3. A later 6-1 attempt brought the score a bit closer (19-11), but PVAMU was unable to hold off Abilene Christian before falling 25-17. 

Prairie View A&M trailed throughout set four, until a late 4-0 run gave the team their first lead of the period at 22-21. The PVAMU ended the set on a 2-0 run allowing the Lady Panthers to knot the match after a 25-22 victory.

Final set was a battle with both teams tying at 4-4, then again at 5-5. ACU then took an 8-5 lead, prompting the teams to trade points and push the score to 9-7. A late 5-1 Prairie View run then tied the set 12-12, but it wasn't enough as ACU went on to win the set and the match.

Junior middle blocker Victoria Pearson led the team with 14 kills, four digs and one block. Senior right side hitter CeTara Carter posted 12 kills, and junior outside hitter Tamaira Armstrong followed with 11 kills, 10 digs and one assist. Junior outside hitter Melanie Arenas also contributed 18 digs, 10 kills and four assists. 

The Lady Panthers will continue tournament play with a doubleheader on Saturday, Sept. 14. The team is set to face California State University - Fullerton at 11 a.m, then the University of North Texas at 2 pm.