AUSTIN – Despite a new year and a few new faces the results for the Pflugerville High volleyball team’s trip to Westlake High were the same, the Panthers lost in three games.

Pflugerville made the trip south to open their 2010 volleyball season and discovered they have a burgeoning force at outside hitter in I’Tiana Taylor who tallied seven kills in the game. Despite flashes of brilliance, the Panthers could not quite get over on the Chaps and fell 25-18, 25-18, 25-18.

Thanks to two kills by Anna Hood, Westlake jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the first game, but the Panthers battled back behind the setting of Lindsay Ernest and the hitting of Adesuwa Ebomwonyi and Diana Omozee to cut the deficit to 10-8. Ernest fed Taylor for a kill which was followed by stuff blocks by Nneka Enemkpali and Omozee to tie the first game at 12-12. A Chap error gave the Panthers their first lead of the night at 14-13. Pflugerville had one more lead at 15-14 when Ernest set Enemkpali up for a kill. The duo hooked up 11 times on the night as Enemkpali led the team with 11 kills and Ernest finished with 20 assists. Ernest fed Taylor for another kill to tie the game at 16-16, but a 5-0 Westlake surge proved to be the Panthers’ undoing and the Chaps took the first game win.

Pflugerville started the second game strong, building leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 6-3 behind the hitting of Enemkpali and a Taylor ace. Paige Caridi blasted home a kill for Westlaek to tie the game at 7-7 but Ernest set up Taylor for a kill to quickly give the lead back to the Panthers. An Ernest dink for a point put Pflugerville up 9-8 but it was the last lead the Panthers would enjoy in the game. Hannah Baptiste had a kill that sparked a 4-0 Chap run and let them take hold of the game. Enemkpali had two kills to keep Pflugerville close and a Westlake error cut the Panthers’ deficit to 17-16. However, kills by Hood and Caridi wrested control of the game back to the Chaps side of the court and gave them a 22-17 advantage. Ernest set up Enemkpali for one more kill but the point was the final one of the game for Pflugerville as Westlake held on for the win.

The Chaps carried this momentum with them into the night’s final game, building leads of 16-8 and 18-10. The Chaps were up 23-13 before the Panthers finally got anything going. Ernest hit Enemkpali for three kills to help Pflugerville cut Westlake’s lead to 24-17, then served an ace to trim it to 28-18. However, on the next serve, the Panthers were unable to get the ball across the net in three hits, giving the Chaps the game and match victory.