By Thomas Jones, Sports editor

SAN MARCOS­-Westlake had better swings, more kills and a higher quotient of oohs and ahhhs from the crowd of 3,800 that filled Strahan Coliseum for Saturday’s Class 5A state championship match.

But Amarillo had less mistakes, and that gave the Panhandle powerhouse just enough of an edge to win a tense five-game showdown and make history. With their 19-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-19, 15-11, the Sandies handed Westlake a second consecutive defeat in the championship match and became the first Class 5A school to ever win three straight state titles.

The loss provided a bitter ending to a sweet season for a Westlake team that beat powerful San Antonio Churchill and top-ranked San Antonio Reagan to reach state but couldn’t muster enough plays to top Amarillo.

“I’m so proud of this team,” said senior Elly Barrett. “Not a lot of people expected us to be here, but we fought so hard to get back.”

The Chaps (40-8) fought plenty hard against Amarillo (48-3) behind strong efforts from Barrett, classmate Abby Howden and junior Sara Shaw. Barrett dished out 54 assists and had 15 digs. Shaw led all players with 27 kills and added 17 digs, and Howden had 20 kills in her final match.

As a team, Westlake fired 61 kills with a kill percentage of .206. In comparison, Amarillo had 49 kills with a .117 kill rate.

“But they made all the plays in the fifth game,” Westlake coach Al Bennett said. “We made the plays in the fifth game against Churchill and Reagan, but we didn’t get it done tonight.”

Amarillo opened the fifth game with an 8-3 run behind a block and a kill from Neely Borger and a pair of aces from Torri Campbell. The Chaps managed to close that gap to 11-8, but two errors and some missed digs prevented Westlake from overcoming the Sandies.

“We gave up a couple of runs that we shouldn’t have given up, and that was the difference in the ballgame,” Bennett said. “We tried to fight and claw our way back into it, but it’s hard to give away that many points and come back against a team like Amarillo.”

The Chaps came out firing in the opening stanza and rolled to a quick win behind six kills from Shaw. They then jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the second game, but Amarillo showed its mettle with an 11-2 run that blunted the Chaps’ momentum and set the stage for a lengthy battle.

Stellar serving throughout the game by Amarillo negated Westlake’s offensive superiority. The Sandies had 10 aces and just two service errors, compared to eight aces and 14 service errors for the Chaps.

Amarillo also had 14 team blocks, eight more than the Chaps.

Aryn Bohannon led Amarillo with 14 kills while earning Most Valuable player honors. One of just two seniors on her team, Bohannon and her young teammates celebrated after the match like playoff neophytes rather than state-tournament veterans. Like Westlake, many of the Sandies viewed 2008 as more of a rebuilding season than a possible state run.

As Barrett watched, she could only look back with a mixture of pride and frustration on her two near-misses at a state championship.

“It seems like I was just a freshman,” she said, fighting back tears. “I don’t know where the time went.”