Volleyball Drops Tournament Opener Friday Evening

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Texas Southern’s spring volleyball season came to a close in the first round of the 2021 SWAC Tournament Friday evening inside the Birmingham Crossplex.

Set one against Prairie View A&M started out close as TSU trailed 8-7 but PVAMU went on a 7-2 run to jump out to a 15-9 lead before Danielle Lilley’s back-to-back kills ended the run as TSU was down 15-10. Prairie View A&M would score the next three points to up the lead to 18-10 but TSU would fight back and get to within 20-15. Back-to-back errors by TSU would end the run as PVAMU closed out the set on a 5-0 run to win 25-15.

TSU would set the tone early in set two as they led 15-11 but four straight points by PVAMU allowed them to tie the contest at 15-all. Jada Hall ended the run with a kill but PVAMU answered back to knot the contest at 16 and moved ahead 18-16 before another Hall kill. Trailing 20-17, TSU used a kill by Janiya Chapman and an ace from Kaitlyn Scroggins to get back within 20-19 but three straight points by the Lady Panthers swung the momentum around as they led 23-19. Chapman’s kill brought TSU to 23-20 but consecutive errors allowed PVAMU to close out the match 25-20.

Set three started out even as TSU trailed 8-7 but four straight PVAMU kills pushed the deficit to 12-7. Maria Salazar-Gutierrez had a pair of kills to cut the margin to 13-10 but PVAMU scored the next six points to seal the match as TSU couldn’t recover.

Salazar-Gutierrez led TSU with seven kills while Aeris Ramsey added 14 assists.