District 17-5A and Region III champions, the Cy-Fair Bobcats, played in the semifinal round of the 2007 State Tournament against defending champion Amarillo Friday night in San Marcos.

Amarillo came out strong winning game 1, 28-26, then went on to defeat Cy-Fair 25-16 and 25-15, advancing to the championship game against Austin Westlake, who beat Plano West in Friday's other semifinal match.

Game 1 started with Cy-Fair’s Chiney Ogwumike hitting a kill. Amarillo’s Ashley Pylant came right back with a kill to tie it at 1. Ogwumike’s sister, Nneka, hit one of her 16 kills of the night to take a 5-1 lead. Amarillo tied it at 5. The Sandees tied it again at 7 on a kill from Catherine Neilson. Cy-Fair’s Leah Olson served an ace for a 12-10 lead, and then teammate Alicia Garza hit a kill for a 15-10 lead. Amarillo took their first lead of the game at 17-16. The score was tied most of the rest of the game. Nneka Ogwumike hit a kill to tie it at 24, 25, and 26. But Amarillo scored the next two to win the game 28-26.

The last time these two teams played each other was earlier in the season in the Pearland Tournament, where Amarillo defeated Cy-Fair. But after game 1, it looked like the fans might see a game 5, and possibly a Cy-Fair win.

Amarillo’s Pylant got the first point of Game 2 on a kill. Cy-Fair’s Olson served an ace to tie it at 2. Nneka Ogwumike hit a kill for a 4-3 lead but Amarillo regained the lead and held it for the rest of the game. Breanne Owens served an ace for the Sandees for a 6-5 lead, and then teammate Torri Campbell followed with an ace of her own to lead 8-7. Amarillo led by eight at one point, and then at 23-16, the Sandees scored two more, winning 25-16.

“We played an amazing team with a fantastic setter. We just got out of sync a little bit with our serving and passing,” Cy-Fair coach Donna Benotti said.

Kelsey Black scored first for Amarillo with a kill in Game 3. Black then hit another kill to keep the one-point lead, 3-2. Cy-Fair got its first two points on net serves from Amarillo. Then Nneka Ogwumike tapped the ball over the net to tie the game at 3. She served an ace, giving the Bobcats a lead. A block by Garza and Chiney Ogwumike increased the Bobcat lead. Amarillo’s Danielle Barker and Campbell tied it at 7.

Amarillo took an 18-14 lead, and Stephanie Wells and Campbell each hit a kill bringing the score to 23-15. To win the game and match, Aryn Bohannon served two aces.

“I couldn’t be more proud. They are an amazing group of kids. It’s been a blast. I’ve loved every second of it. It’s unfortunate that you can have such a great season, but you’ll either end as state champions or you’ll end disappointed with a loss and unfortunately we ended with a loss, but we’re certainly not disappointed,” Benotti said.

Nneka Ogwumike reflected on the season and making the state tournament.

“It’s been very successful," she said. "No other team could have asked for an ending like this in the state tournament. Not necessarily the way we ended it in the state tournament, but advancing this far is a really big accomplishment. The fact that nobody was mentioning Cy-Fair volleyball last year kind of fired us up and that led us to the state tournament.”

The 5A championship game between Austin Westlake and Amarillo will be played Saturday at 5 p.m.

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