The streak has ended: Texas Southern takes the fifth set

The fifth set has been inclusive to the Southern University women’s volleyball team due to their back-to-back miraculous victories on their home field at Clifford Seymour Gym in the recent weeks against conference opponents.
Usually home is where the heart is but to Southern, this has became their first conference loss at home against first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, the undefeated Texas Southern.
“I don’t know why we have such a momentum shift and drag it to the fifth set, but I guess it depends on the girls and the style of competition,” said sophomore setter Phalen Clark.
Southern started their usual stance on their home court when they lost the first set and was overwhelmed in such a set (18-25).
Southern almost turned around their effort in the second set. They tried to hi-tail their way to a winning set when they picked up their trials from their six-point deficit at the beginning of the set. Outside hitter, Robyn Shannon, from TSU captured five points after Nicole Robinson scored with a lead of 7-13. Furthermore, Southern waged war to increase their lead after an attack error by Erica Lewis and Shannon when the set was soon to end (15-19). Southern cleaned up their errors but still relinquished the set to TSU after senior middle blocker Marisol Macias’s error ending in a waged battle (23-25).
The game picked up when Southern calculated the third set and proposed a contingency plan to win and by a large margin. They banded together and took a continuous lead with five out of the 13 kills made that night by sophomore outside hitter, Melodie Malone, while the girls captivated on thirteen of TSU’s errors to end (25-19).
An overwhelmed spirit surrounded Southern as they continued vying for a win, and the fourth set introduced a back and forth from both teams, with attack errors by setter Mallory Ozuna, finished with the Lady Jags capturing the set with an error by Ozuna and a kill by Clark finished the set (27-25).
Usual games boil down to the fifth set, and constant kills from each team erupted in a well-fought battle. Southern and TSU balanced back and forth with kills at 8-8. TSU’s player then pulled a four points. Setter Sarah Wooton seized four assists of her 17 after Southern came in with errors. SU tried to pull back as Malone scored her last kill but in effort they lost (10-15), a valiant loss against the leaders of the SWAC 2-3.
This puts a dent in the upcoming program and puts an end to Southern’s four game win streak as Southern enters the locker room to begin in the Coach Denu Invitational tournament the following Friday on October 17.