The Pflugerville High volleyball team blew past Giddings 25-9, 25-23, 25-14 in non-district action Tuesday night.

Marisa Gilbert and I’Tiana Taylor led the Panther attack each finishing with eight kills. Lindsay Ernest doled out 25 assists to set up the offense. Gilbert added three stuff blocks for Pflugerville (11-8) who was playing without Nneka Enemkpali who was sidelined with an injury.

“We have not been consistent and we were a little inconsistent tonight,” Pflugerville coach Jeff Coward said. “I loved that we jumped out early and played our best volleyball.”

Led by the play at the net of Gilbert, Taylor and Madison Rigdon (five kills) and the serving of Dana Newberg and Jasmyn Booker Pflugerville built a 15-6 lead in the first game. Four straight Buffalo errors increased that lead to 19-6 before an errant Kate Palladino serve briefly interrupted the Panther run. Gilbert knocked down a kill to return serve to the Panthers and Newberg responded with two more aces to push the Pflugerville lead to 24-7. Giddings scored two points before Ernest set for Diana Omozee (five kills) who blasted home the game-winning kill.

The Panthers carried the momentum into the second game and led 10-5 thanks to an Omozee kill and were up 13-7 thanks to a Gilbert stuff block. However, the Buffalos fought back, eventually going on a 5-1 run that resulted in the game being tied 20-20. Rigdon broke the tie with a kill and Katelyn Nyland served an ace to push Pflugerville’s advantage to 22-20. A Panther error gave Giddings another point but Gilbert scored three kills to finish off the Buffalos and clinch the win for Pflugerville.

“We quickly corrected what we were doing,” Coward said. “Our offense is amazing. When we are passing well our offense is unstoppable. We were passing well tonight and our offense looked good.”

The Panthers trailed 3-2 to start the third game before Ernest fed Adesuwa Ebomwonyi for a kill to spark a 9-2 Pflugerville surge. Taylor was huge in the run, tallying three kills and a stuff block to help the Panthers go up 11-5. Omozee scored another kill and Gilbert followed her own kill with a stuff block to put Pflugerville up 15-6. The Panthers led 17-11 when a Gilbert kill and three Giddings’ errors resulted in four straight points to put them up 20-11. Pflugerville’s lead was 22-14 when Ernest fed Ebomwonyi for another kill to put the Panthers up 23-14. A Buffalo error put the match at match point and Omozee did the rest, knocking down the night’s final kill to score the game’s final point.