The Prairie View A&M volleyball team continued their strong and vicious play in the early SWAC season by sweeping Southern in three sets with scores of 30-20, 30-21, and 30-23.
The win moved the Lady Panthers (10-9) to 4-0 in SWAC play while dropping the Lady Jaguars to 1-1 in the SWAC and 7-8 overall.
Tamika Newman led the team with 12 kills and two service aces while Shannon Harrison had 15 digs and 11 kills.
After winning the first set, the Lady Panthers slowly began to separate from Southern as the second set developed though the Lady Jaguars made an occasional charge. Ahead 17-12, the Jaguars fought to make the set more interesting, pulling to 18-16. The Lady Panthers kept their resolve and forged a 10-4 run to extend their lead to 28-20 and put a stranglehold on the set.
In the third set, defensive specialist Michelle Cole helped foil any chances of turning the match around. Ahead 1-0 in the third set, Cole made a spectacular diving play to save a ball from hitting the court and the Lady Panthers won the point to increase their lead to 2-0.
“I wasn’t really thinking, I just went for it,” said Cole, the junior transfer from Alvin Community College. “That’s what they teach us to do, said Cole.”
Though Southern cut their early third set deficit from 10-2 to 11-9 and kept the pressure on Prairie View, the Lady Panthers kept them at arms-length and held off any surge the Lady Jaguars tried to mount.
“Everyone came out playing aggressively,” said head coach Alicia Pete. “It was a great effort.”
Prairie View will look to extend their six-game winning streak when they play their next match Thursday, Oct. 4 at the Baby Dome against Paul Quinn College.