SAN MARCOS -- The best season in Normangee volleyball history ended in the state semifinals, stopped by too many errors and two big hitters.

Louise took advantage of the Lady Panthers' shaky start and rode the power hitting of Amber Bain and Katie Brown to beat Normangee 25-12, 23-25, 25-18, 25-21 in the UIL State Tournament at Strahan Coliseum on Friday morning.

The second-ranked Lady Hornets (40-4) reached the Class A championship match for the first time since their only other state appearance in 1970. Louise will play Bronte for the title at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Normangee, making its first trip to state, finished with a record of 31-11.

Although they wanted more, the Lady Panthers left the tournament with bronze medals. One of them went to the mother of former player Kylee Harris. Normangee's players dedicated the season to their former teammate, who died in a car accident last year.

"I told them that wasn't the medal they wanted, but later on they will look back and see how much they accomplished," Normangee coach Tami Dean said.

The combination of state-tournament nerves and Louise's big bangers prevented Normangee from challenging in the opening game. The Lady Hornets used a 12-1 run to build a 21-6 advantage and cruised to the win.

"I think the girls were really excited and they couldn't settle down and get into a rhythm," Dean said. "We didn't play our game."

The Lady Panthers didn't quit, either. Normangee, which beat rival Iola in the Region III final to advance to San Marcos, battled back to win the second game. Junior middle blocker Jill Riley sparked the comeback with several big blocks that kept points alive and forced Louise to change its attack.

Normangee trailed 14-10 when Riley provided the lift her team needed, blocking four attacks on the same point that eventually went to the Lady Panthers on a kill error by Louise.

"We made a conscious effort trying to get around her, running slides or curves to the right and the left," Louise coach Bryan Branch said of Riley. "We were constantly aware of her when she was on the front row. When she went out, we could just run our regular offense."

Louise led 17-15 before Normangee finished Game 2 with its best stretch of play during the match. Bayleigh Biddle and Hilaree Hodges had kills, and then the scrappy Lady Panthers grabbed four of the next five points on Louise errors. Riley and Hodges delivered back-to-back kills, and Biddle put away a spike to give Normangee the game.

"We've played some pretty tough teams with height before, and we seemed to do pretty well against them," Biddle said. "We just weren't on our game like we usually are. We shook it off and played in the second game, but not after that. We couldn't get it together. We couldn't get into rhythm."

Errors mounted again in the third game, with the Lady Panthers dropping 10 points on mistakes. Normangee struggled with its serve receive, making setter Samantha Corgey spend much of the match on the run and giving Louise more chances to get the ball to the 5-foot-11 Bain and 5-10 Brown.

"We weren't talking and everybody was running into each other," Hodges said. "That's not the way we usually play. The second game, that's how we play."

Bain and Brown didn't leave Normangee much room for error. They were able to consistently put balls away, with Bain slamming 26 kills and Brown adding 17.

The left-handed Bain was the dominant figure in the match, finishing with one more kill than the entire Normangee team. Bain had five kills, including the winner, in Game 3.

Normangee battled to extend its season in Game 4. Leah Munsey's dig turned fell in for a kill and then Munsey served an ace to spark a 9-4 spurt that included back-to-back kills by Hodges as the Lady Panthers grabbed an 18-16 lead.

However, Louise regained command by scoring eight of the next nine points. Bain had four kills and a block during the run, and she also supplied the match-winner with another kill.

Hodges led Normangee with 11 kills and Riley finished with six. Corgey recorded 21 assists. Munsey (16 digs) and Jaqua Wilson (10) led the back-row defense.

In the second semifinal, Bronte knocked off top-ranked Lindsey 25-11, 25-22, 22-25, 25-13.