Photo by SWAC.org
1
Prairie View A&M 9-19
3
Texas Southern 17-12
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 RECORDS
Texas Southern (3) 22 25 25 25 17-12
Prairie View A&M (1) 25 18 20 23 9-19
Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | 11/18/2017 9:49:00 PM
Volleyball Flashback: Lady Tigers outlast Prairie View in SWAC semifinals; will face Alabama State in championship
Next Game:
vs. Alabama State
11/19/2017 - 3:00 p.m.
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(This is a look back at one of the best performances of the 2017-18 season)
JACKSON, Miss. – The Lady Tigers of Texas Southern University are headed back to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship match after defeating in-state rival Prairie View A&M in four sets Saturday.
Scores of the semifinal match were 22-25, 25-18, 25-20, and 25-23.
Sunday's championship match will be a repeat of the 2016 final, as the No. 3-seeded Lady Tigers (16-12), face regular-season champion Alabama State (27-10). First serve is scheduled for 3 p.m.; the match can be seen on ESPN3.
Prairie View A&M, the No. 7-seeded team in the tournament, reached the semifinals by upsetting league runner-up Alabama A&M in a three-set sweep on Friday. The Lady Panthers finish the season with a record of 9-18.
TSU's frontline defense proved to be the difference in the match as the Lady Tigers recorded 18.5 total blocks in the semifinal win, more than triple Prairie View's six total blocks. Junior middle hitter Kirby Anderson tallied a career-high 11 total blocks (one solo, 10 assisted).
Eboni Mitchell was in on seven total blocks (one solo and six assisted), while Nia Stone blocked five PV attempts, all assisted.
Nicole Robinson led the Lady Tigers with nine kills, while Alexis Austin added eight kills. Anderson, Mitchell, and Cassidy Janson chipped in five kills apiece.
Texas Southern's back row was anchored by Asia Howard, who recorded her team-leading ninth double-double with 17 assists and 16 digs. Ellena Torres also tallied a double-double, with 14 assists and 13 digs. Jannson also dug 13 opposition attacks.
Taylor Goudeau led Prairie View A&M with 15 kills, while Christen Augustine led the Lady Panthers defense with a match-high 30 digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
The 18.5 total blocks were the most for Texas Southern in more than three seasons, tying the 18.5 blocks they put away August 30, 2014 … against Prairie View A&M (at the TSU Invitational)
The similarities between Saturday's postseason match and the aforementioned non-conference match did not stop at the opponent. Like Saturday's contest, the Lady Tigers dropped the first set 25-22, and then won the next three by the exact same scores, albeit in a slightly different order (25-20, 25-18, 25-22).
The Lady Tigers' blocking helped neutralize the threat of PV's biggest hitters – Goudeau and Larissa Martinez. Less than 24 hours after knocking down 17 kills and hitting .300, Martinez was limited to nine kills and had 13 attacking errors, hitting minus-.095.
Martinez and Goudeau combined for 24 kills and 25 errors on 86 attempts, good for a minus-.012 hitting percentage.
TSU's blocking success made up for the team's underwhelming hitting percentage. Prairie View held a 51-40 advantage in kills, and while the Lady Tigers outhit PV (.073 to .044), the team's .073 hitting percentage was its sixth lowest percentage in a match this season.
The Lady Tigers' .073 hitting percentage was also its lowest showing against a SWAC team, and its lowest percentage in a match the team won. The five matches with lower percentages were all sweeps by non-conference opponents.
The stellar and exciting defensive play by both teams contributed to the low hitting percentages. The Lady Tigers record 165 total attacks (their fifth highest mark this season); the 348 attacks recorded by both teams were the second-highest total in a TSU match this season, three short of the combined total in Texas Southern's five-set win over Incarnate Word in Edinburg, Texas, in September.
Courtesy: TSU Athletics