LORMAN, Miss. – With Prairie View A&M already playing three games coming in, the Alcorn State University volleyball team came out in their season opener and challenged the Lady Panthers in three competitive sets. Prairie View A&M claimed the 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-23) Southwestern Athletic Conference win Sunday afternoon inside Davey L. Whitney Complex.
Alcorn won several of the statistical categories including kills (36-32), assists (35-31) and digs (51-44). Both teams struggled to find a rhythm offensively with each team hitting below .140, but the Lady Braves came on strong hitting over .200 in the third set.
Mar'ria Phillips had a strong freshman debut leading Alcorn with 12 kills and hit an impressive .381. She also added an assist, two block assists and two digs. Makayla Wardlaw and Mikenzie Young-Mullins added nine kills apiece. It was matching strong debuts for Wardlaw and Young-Mullins, as Wardlaw made her freshman debut and Young-Mullins as a transfer. Returning Preseason All-SWAC player Jasmine Chambers led the way in assists with 17 and added nine digs. Jurnee Calhoun dished out 12 assists. Young-Mullins just missed a double-double with 10 digs to lead the team.
Prairie View A&M (4-0, 3-0 SWAC) moved out to an 8-5 lead in the opening set before the Lady Braves fought back to even the score at eight with points from Preseason All-SWAC player Jeda Curry and a pair of Lady Panther attack errors. Right after the set was tied, the Lady Panthers reeled off a 7-1 run to open up a 15-9 lead. At set point 24-14, Alcorn made a late push posting four points with Young-Mullins and Phillips tallying kills, along with a double-block from Phillips and Kwanisha Carroll-Quarles before Prairie View A&M then claimed the set at 25-18.
After falling behind 9-5 in the second set, Alcorn came right back to even the score with a service error starting the run and then a kill from Phillips and a double-block from Phillips and Tiara Adams tied the set at nine. The set remained close until Prairie View A&M went on a 4-0 run to take a 21-16 lead. The Lady Braves kept pushing back, getting to within two a couple of times, with the last at 24-22 when Prairie View A&M tallied the next point to take the 25-22 second set and 2-0 match lead.
Alcorn claimed the early 8-7 lead in the third set on a kill by Simone Barren. The set was back-and-forth with Alcorn coming back in the middle of the set to regain their one-point lead at 15-14 on an attack error. Neither team was able to gain much of an advantage in the set before Prairie View A&M went in front 20-17. Alcorn came right back with a double-block from Curry and Barren and then a kill by Phillips. The Lady Braves kept pulling to within a point, coming back at 22-21, 23-22 and once again at 24-23. Prairie View A&M then escaped with the set getting a kill on the next point for the 25-23 third set win and 3-0 match victory.
Victoria Pearson led the Lady Panthers with eight kills, Jakarta Hope had 17 assists, Pearson also led the team in blocks with four and Melanie Arenas had 11 digs.
Overall for the match, Prairie View A&M tallied 32 kills to 17 errors in 107 chances (.140), while Alcorn had 36 kills to 24 errors in 108 chances (.111).
With the match on Monday that was scheduled against Texas Southern being postponed, the Lady Braves will look to return to action on Sunday, Feb. 7 at Mississippi Valley State.
