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PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The first-place team in the Southwestern Athletic Conference's Western Division proved to be too much for Prairie View A&M on Thursday, as the Texas Southern Lady Tigers went back to Houston with a four-set win over the Lady Panthers.
 
Scores of the match were 20-25, 25-18, 25-14, and 25-17.
 
Kali Fluke knocked down a match-high 16 kills and hit .452 while teammate Robyn Shannon added 11 kills as the Tigers (9-13) improved their conference divisional record to 5-0 with the win.
 
Candyce Alexander (Bedford, Texas / Missouri State–West Plains led the Lady Panthers with 15 kills and four blocks. Lenicia Tyson added seven kills and five blocks for Prairie View A&M (6-15, 0-3 SWAC West).
 
The Tigers showed why they were not to be taken lightly, even in their opening set loss. The Lady Panthers jumped out to an early advantage and at one point led 19-12, but an 8-3 run by Texas Southern but the Prairie View A&M lead to two points. The Panthers recovered to take the set thanks to three consecutive TSU errors, the last one as a result of Tyson and Alexander teaming up to block Taylor Dickerson.
 
Alexander knocked down six of her kills in the first set, while setter Ana Kiso (Belgrade, Serbia / Panola College) handed out nine of her 32 assists in the opener.
 
Prairie View A&M outhit its opponents .154 to .079 in the opening set, but the Tigers would improve as the match wore on. In the final three sets, Texas Southern would hit .333, giving the visitors a match percentage of .242.
 
The Lady Tigers rehashed an all-too-familiar storyline in the second set, jumping out to a quick 9-4 lead. The visitors would not relinquish their advantage for the duration of the set.
 
After the 10-minute intermission, the Lady Panthers appeared poised to regain control of the match in the third set as they jumped out to a 7-4 lead. But the ever-resilient Tigers ran off eight consecutive points to give themselves a five-point advantage. TSU scored 21 of the set's last 28 points.
 
In the final set, the Tigers gave themselves an early 10-2 cushion; they used the early advantage to fend off a late Panther rally. Trailing 17-10, Prairie View A&M scored the next four points and seven of the next 11 to close the gap to 21-17. But the Tigers scored the next four points to give themselves the match.
 
The Lady Panthers return to action Tuesday when they travel to northern Louisiana to take on the 2-17 Grambling State Lady Tigers. Match time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.