PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas | The Grambling State University volleyball team has guaranteed its first winning season in more than 10 years on Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) victory over Prairie View A&M at the William J. Nicks Baby Dome.

Grambling State's last winning season came in 2009, under head coach Kim Young, when the Lady Tigers went  20-13. 

On Sunday against the Panthers, the Lady Tigers never looked threatened in the opening set, 25-11 and took a 2-0 lead when GSU won 25-23 in the second set. The Lady Tigers (14-10 overall, 11-3 SWAC) pulled away in the third set, winning 25-15.

HOW IT HAPPENED 
First Set 

• Grambling State jumped out to a 5-0 lead, off the strength of kills by Haley Gomez, Zyonn Smith and Ana Calderon
• The Lady Tigers extended the margin to 11-5 after block assists by Maggie Plush and Destiny Thomas
• PVAMU (6-23, 4-9) cut the deficit to 13-10, but GSU answered with three straight points to push the lead to 16-10
• Grambling State continued its offensive explosion as Gomez and Jayden James picked up kills to extend the advantage to 23-11
• The Lady Tigers closed out the opening set, 25-11

Second Set 

• The Panthers raced out to a 6-3 lead to open the set
• Grambling State rallied, tying the set at 14 after an attacking error by PVAMU
• The Lady Tigers led, 17-16, after a kill by Kai Williams
• Back came Prairie View A&M, taking advantage of an attacking error and got a kill by Kylee Owens to grab a 19-17 advantage
• The Panthers extended their lead to 23-20, but back-to-back kills by James forced PVAMU to call a timeout, leading 23-22
• The Lady Tigers completed the rally, winning 25-23, as GSU got kills my Plush and James, winning the set off an attacking error

Third Set 

• With the score tied at 9, GSU scored four straight points, to take a 13-9 advantage
• PVAMU closed the gap to 15-13, but back came the Lady Tigers, pushing the margin to 18-13
• The Panthers could not recover as GSU rolled to a 25-15 win to seal the match

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Grambling State finished with 39 kills in 106 total attacks, with just 12 errors (hitting .255)
• The Lady Tigers recorded 55 digs, 36 assists, 11 block assists, three service aces and two block solos
• Jayden James paced the offense, recorded a double-double of 14 kills and 11 digs
• Ana Calderon and Hillary English dished out 16 and 15 assists, respectively 
• Zyonn Smith registered a team-high 17 digs, while Bruna Torres added 12
• Prairie View A&M finished with 27 kills in 116 total attacks, with 25 errors 
• The Panthers tallied 48 digs and 26 assists
• Kylee Owens led the offense with 15 kills and 10 digs
• Jakarta Hope posted 12 assists

UP NEXT 
Grambling State wraps up is two-match road swing on Monday night at Texas Southern. First serve is set for 6 p.m.

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