Home court Heroes: Lady Jaguars crush Prairie View with 3-1 victory

The football team was not the only team to battle Prairie View A&M, as last Monday night the women’s volleyball team did just the same.
There was only one difference between the two teams.
With 212 fans in the stands, Southern (6-17, 3-1) was ready for war and a victory was obtained.
There was electricity in the gym the whole night, with an overwhleming amount of SU support.
Coming off a long and hard tournament this weekend in Jackson, Mississippi going 2-3, the Jaguars knew they had to shake it off and remain persistent in order to keep moving forward in their efforts to make a SWAC tournament appearance at their home court.
“We had a sit down conversation and we came to an agreement of the things we needed to work on and fix and fix as a team and they responded well,” said head coach Vanessa Jacobs.
Prairie View held Southern to 10 points for the majority of the first set before a kill was made by Melodie Malone. Although the Jags lost the first set, they did a good job of ensuring that the set didn’t ultimately set the tone for the rest of the night.
The crowd’s noise level was at an all-time high. Southern’s intensity was a mirror reflection of the stands.
“I know we had the crowd behind us. Jag nation, you can’t beat it. When they show up in our gym, well beat anybody because our girls want to perform for them,” explained Jacobs.
After the beginning of the second set, the Lady Jaguars dominated the following 3 matches, beating PV (25-15, 25-22, 25-14).
Prairie View had few players that could match up to 6-foot-4, Bayley Neubauer or 6-foot senior Leilani Lealaimatafao on the other side of the net.
Middle blocker and outside hitter Shauntia Carr had a game high of 11 kills and 5 blocks. Setters Vattera Calais and Jamie Selleneit added to the Jaguar’s offense with a combined number of 41 assists. The most notable player of the game was Junior Libero Diamond Williams whom after receiving an award for reaching 1,000 digs handed out 31 digs to add to the pile.
“Diamond is a true leader, she leads the defense. If the ball happens to get past our blockers she’s there to pick them up,” said Jacobs.
The Lady Jaguars also shut down SWAC Player of the Week, Ana Kiso which achieved her third honor in the SWAC thus far for her defensive play.
With a record of now 3-1 in the SWAC, Southern will face the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Southern has now climbed the leader board to fourth place.