The Lady Panthers began conference play Sept. 23 against the Texas Southern Lady Tigers. The Lady Panthers started the game well, sneaking the first set away from TSU 25-20. The Lady Panthers continued their good play and won the second match. It seemed as though the Lady Panthers were poised to make quick work of the Lady Tigers in three sets, but the Lady Tigers won the third set to force a fourth. Prairie View would eventually prevail by winning the fourth set 25-21. As a team, the Lady Panthers had seven blocks, four by Sharonda Marshall. The team leaders in digs were Michelle Paul with 10 and Erin Fondel with six. Leading the team in kills with 22 were Nicole Thompson and Shaun Williams with 11.
The Lady Panthers’ Sept. 25 game was a matchup against the Southern Lady Jaguars. Prairie View used a strong team effort to rally back from behind but lost the first set 25-18. In the second set, the Lady Panthers started out quick and soon stretched the lead to 12-4, ending the game with a 25-16 win.
The pivotal third match was very competitive but Southern lost the match 25-21. The fourth match had great intensity with Southern trying to win to force a fifth set as the Lady Panthers were just a set away from their second conference win of the season. The match again was played close and went down to the wire. The Lady Jaguars pulled within one point 19-18, only to see the Lady Panthers pull away 22-18. After a SU timeout the Lady Jags pulled a little closer to lose 25-21.
The Sept. 29 game for the Lady Panthers pitted them against Wiley College. Early in the first set the teams were locked in an 8-8 tie. The Lady Panthers battled, but Wiley seemed to stay just a step ahead the entire game until the Lady Panthers pulled the game to another tie at 19-19. Wiley again would squeeze ahead as they surged back to take the win 25-21. In the second game, the Lady Panthers started off quicker than the first, taking a 6-2 lead. The lead would stretch to five with good hustle by the Lady Panthers as they outplayed Wiley in every aspect. Wiley wouldn’t let the match go without a fight as they fought back, but the Lady Panthers would win the second set 1-1.
In the third match, Wiley started quick and held on to an 8-1 lead. The Lady Panthers couldn’t quite recover from the slow start and lost the match 25-15. Going into the fourth set Wiley had all the momentum. Despite the Lady Panthers’ gritty play that even sparked the home crowd to get into the game, they lost to Wiley in four sets 3-1. This might have been one of the most intense games of the Lady Panthers’ young season.
The Lady Panthers will be in action againá Sept. 30 against UT-San Antonio and at home against Jarvis Christian Oct 2.