Are you ready? That’s the question that the Ladies will be asking their opponents this weekend. The Lady Panthers are a high-octane team that took the conference by storm this year. With a record of 38-8 in the conference, the Lady Panthers are the heavy favorites in retaining the championship.
The Lady Panthers’ biggest threat is Grambling State, the only SWAC team that scratched their dreams of an undefeated record. The Lady Panthers have been working hard all week, and preparing for anything that may come their way during the tournament.
The Lady Panthers have six seniors, and eight returning players from last year’s championship team, so experience is no problem. It poses no problem for freshmen Erin Fondel, Jessica Ferguson, Sharonda Marshall, and Victoria Adedipe; who do not hesitate when their numbers are called.
Setter and right side hitter Fondel said, “We feel really good right now, we’re in first place right now, so we just have to keep competing and keep our heads up.”
When speaking of the Grambling State loss, Fondel said, “We didn’t come out with our A-game the second time we played them, but we will bring our A-game for the tournament.”
The Lady Panthers’ hard work earned them the number one seed in the western division. In conference rankings, the Lady Panthers are currently third in hitting percentage, second in assists, third in kills, and first in digs. Tamika Newman ranks second in points and kills, and fourth in hitting percentage. Laura De La Fuente ranks third in assists, Shannon Harrison is fourth in conference for digs, and Michelle Paul is close behind with a rank of sixth.
This has been a great season for the Lady Panthers and head coach Alicia Pete who finished the regular season with a record of 16-12 and a conference record of 6-1. The Lady Panthers start play Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. in the New Gym.