The Pflugerville Panthers came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Connally Cougars in five games, 19-25, 13-25, 25-20, 25-15, 15-9 in the final meeting of the season for the PISD cross-town rivals.

“We have had a tendency at times to not work hard enough to be successful,” Pflugerville coach Jeff Coward said. “Christi Dreier does an amazing job as the Connally volleyball coach. She has far fewer players in her program that play club than most schools and yet year in and year out she has her teams playing at a high level. To put it simply the Cougars were playing the game the way it has to be played – hard! And we were not at that point in the match.”

Led by the stellar hitting of Latifah Brager (18 kills) and the passing of Kristen Caldwell (46 assists) the Cougars appeared to be a team with something to prove in the match’s first two games. A kill by Kara Babola and two stuff blocks by Brager had Connally leading 16-6. Three kills by Cindy Okpegbue and another by Elizabeth Johnbull pushed the Connally lead to 23-9 before the Panthers finally sprang to life. Kelsey Espinosa (29 assists) dished out two kills to Haley Outon (28 kills) and fed Brooke Cervin and Marissa Gilbert for one a piece as Pflugerville pulled the score to 24-15. Gilbert tallied a stuff block, which added to a Cougar error and an Outon ace pulled the Panthers to within five at 24-19. Howeve, Pflugerville was called for a foul on the next point giving Connally the win.

The Cougars had full control of the momentum in the second game. Kills by Brager and O’Terrica Mathis helped them build a 7-0 lead. The lead grew to 12-3 on the strong play of Mathis, Johnbull and Babola and Connally did not look back as they ran away with the second game and appeared poised to take the night.

The Panthers, however, had other ideas. Connally held just one lead in the third game and that was 1-0. Katie Baker, Outon and Gilbert controlled the net and when Diedre Outon knocked down a kill off an Espinosa set Pflugerville was up 13-10. Back-to-back kills by Haley Outon pushed the Panther lead to 16-11 but Mathis fought back for Connally with two kills of her own, but Pflugerville’s lead remained at four 17-13. The Outon twins took over the Panther offense. Diedre had three kills  and Haley added another to push Pflugerville’s lead to 23-17. Espinosa fed Baker for a kill and finished the game off with a dink over the net for the final point.

The Panthers continued to roll in game four. Haley Outon had four kills and Cervin served an ace to stake Pflugerville to a 6-1 lead. The Panthers led 10-3 when the Cougar offense caught fire. Brager had four kills to lead Connally on a 7-0 run which pulled the score to 11-10. Pflugerville was able to answer with a run of its own. Two aces by Diedre Outon, two more by Cervin and kills by Haley Outon staked the Panthers to a 19-12 lead they would not relinquish. The game ended when Ernest fed Diedre Outon for one final kill.

After trading punches for the entire night, both squads came out swinging in the deciding game five. Connally took a 4-3 lead but could not hold it. Diedre Outon scored a point to give the Panthers a 6-4 advantage but a kill by Johnbull off a Caldwell set quickly cut that lead to 6-5. Gilbert and Haley Outon had kills to give Pflugerville an 8-6 lead, but again Connally answered this time behind two Brager kills, which trimmed the Panther lead to 9-8. The Panthers were finally able to pull away as Haley Outon knocked down five straight kills to give them a 14-8 lead. Johnbull was able to momentarily stop the Pflugerville attack with a stuff block, but on the next serve Haley Outon took a pass from Ernest and drove home the game winning point.