Volleyball Battles To The End In McNeese Tournament

In the tourney opener on Friday afternoon, host McNeese State defeated the Lady Panthers 3-0.

The Lady Panthers dropped the first two games by scores of 25-12 and 25-16 before putting forth a valiant effort in the final game. During the game, the Lady Panthers took the lead three times but McNeese regained control and closed out the match 25-23. Sapphire Reid led Prairie View with eight kills while Cheri Lindsay tallied four digs. Shaun Williams recorded six assisted blocks in addition to 12 assists from Erin Fondel.

On Saturday morning, the Lady Panthers returned to the court and pushed Louisiana-Lafayette to the brink before falling in sudden death 3-2.

Down 2-0 to ULL, the Lady Panthers reversed their fortunes in game three as Sharonda Marshall, Latoya Taylor and Lindsay recorded three consecutive kills to claim an 11-8 lead. ULL drew to within one point (13-12) of Prairie View several plays later but the Lady Panthers held on as Lindsay and Reid posted kills in addition to several ULL errors for a 17-14 advantage. An attack error by Reid allowed ULL to draw within two points (17-15) but the Lady Panthers clamped down offensively from that point and took control of the game with a five-point swing fueled by kills from Reid, Taylor and Lindsay en route to a 25-18 win.

The fourth game was a mirror of the third as both teams were tied 8-8 before the Lady Panthers went on an 8-3 run to claim a 16-11 lead. ULL would draw no closer than five points the rest of the way as the Lady Panthers forced a fifth and final game after winning 25-17.

In sudden death, ULL broke open another closely contested game with a late surge to close out the match.

Once again, both teams were tied at 8-all until a 5-0 run by ULL vaulted them to a 13-8 lead. Prairie View closed to within 13-10 following back-to-back attack errors by ULL but that would be the closest they would come as Prairie View returned the favor with consecutive attack errors which allowed ULL to close out the match.

Lindsay had a monster game with 23 kills, 17 digs and four assisted blocks while Reid tallied 12 kills and 18 digs. The Lady Panthers received 48 assists and 11 digs from Fondel in addition to 14 digs from Hale.

After an emotional loss to ULL, the Lady Panthers returned to the court in their tourney finale against Texas-Pan American. For the second consecutive match, the Lady Panthers fell late in three straight games as UTPA won the match 3-0.

Tied at 16 in the opener, Prairie View went on a 4-0 run and led 20-16 after a Taylor kill and three straight attack errors by UTPA. However, the lead was brief as Prairie View fell victim to the error bug and allowed UTPA to tie the game at 20-all with four straight attack errors of its own. 

Sharonda Marshall broke the drought and moved PV ahead 21-20 but two more errors offensively and a UTPA kill saw the Lady Broncs take a 24-21 advantage. With their backs against the wall, the Lady Panthers closed to within one point at 24-23 but UTPA captured the game with a kill from Kaitlin Vasquez.

In game two, the Lady Panthers took control midway with an 18-12 lead but once again, errors hurt Prairie View as they committed 10 errors from that point which allowed UTPA to capture a 25-23 comeback victory. 

Despite being down 2-0, Prairie View wouldn’t go down without a fight as they left everything on the court in game three. The Lady Panthers were down 10-7 and fought back to tie the game at 15-all.   From that point, neither team could pull away as the game featured seven ties. Tied at 24, UTPA once again managed to squeeze out the win with a kill and a Prairie View attack error to close out the match 26-24.

Shaun Williams led PV offensively with 11 kills while Fondel tallied 27 assists. Jasmine Hale led the Lady Panthers with 18 digs followed by six each from Lindsay and Reid.