Grambling, La. (Women's Volleyball) -- The Grambling State University Lady Tiger women's volleyball team opened Southwestern Athletic Conference play by going five sets to finish opponent Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers, 3-2, in the Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center on Friday. This marks the team's first SWAC win in two seasons. Grambling won the match with set scores of 25-23, 25-15, 11-25,17-25, and 15-13.

The Lady Tigers move to 1-3, overall, and 1-0 in league play. THe Lady Panthers drop to 0-8 and 0-1 in the SWAC.

Kevreion Ward was the highlight player for Grambling as she helped secure the win with eight kills, five digs and scored 8.5 points. Chasity Nicks added six kills, nine digs, four assisted blocks and nine points. L'Muriell Thrower and Diemend Richardson, each finished the game with 10 assists. Defensively, Alleeyah Hensley finished with 12 digs, which ranks sixth in the conference in matches of five sets.

After the game Lady Tiger's Head Coach Demetria Johnson was pleased with her team's performance and their fight through adversity. Grambling State led 2-0 before PV stormed back to tie the match 2-2.

"I told them they put themselves in a situation," said Coach Johnson, "I told them it was a challenge at the beginning of the season why not win, why not us. I think they did a really good job at coming out the hole. It's hard for young people to dig themselves out of a big hole like that and I think they did an awesome job."

FIRST SET
Prairie View darted to an early 6-2 led, the largest lead of the set. A Lady Panther attack error awarded the Grambling the serve and new life with the score tied at 11. Lady Tigers junior Desiree Bishop blocked a Prairie View attack, Grambling State took their first led 12-11. Bishop ended the first set with a lightly hit attack, the Lady Tigers won 25-23.

SET TWO
Errors tamed the Lady Panthers in set two as Grambling jumped out at 5-1, lead by a kill from Thrower. The lead grew to 14-7, as Nicks set a great block.  Ultimately, the Lady Tigers claimed the set 25-15, helped by three consecutive Prairie View serving and attack errors.
 
SET THREE
Bishop stopped a Lady Panthers 3-0 run with a kill, and Ward stopped a Prairie View 3-0 run with a kill after a Grambling and Lady Panthers rally, Prairie View led 11-8. The Lady Panthers committed an attack error giving the Lady Tigers serve, trailing 17-10. Grambling State would only add one point as the Lady Panthers took their first set of the night 25-11.

SET FOUR
 Prairie View's Randi Hunter was the difference maker in set four finishing with seven kills. As a team, the Lady Panthers included eight kills and 22 total attacks. Grambling State loss the set, 25-17, ending with four kills.

SET FIVE
Four digs by Thrower and three kills from Ward completed the five set saga 15-13. Prairie View pushed a 5-6 lead to one point with an attack error from Ward. She responded with a kill and Thrower's dig crossed the net to knot the match at 7-7.

Grambling State takes on the Texas Southern Lady Tigers Saturday at 3pm at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
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