ROCHESTER - It’s been an up and down season for the Austin High girls volleyball team.

Wednesday, October 18, 2000

ROCHESTER - It’s been an up and down season for the Austin High girls volleyball team. Perhaps no single match they’ve played this year demonstrated that better than Tuesday’s 15-13, 15-7, 8-15, 10-15, 4-15 loss here to Rochester Mayo.

"We just didn’t come to play tonight," Austin coach Treasure Ransom said. "Even though we won the first two games, we weren’t consistent. Mayo had one big hitter and we couldn’t stop her."

That would be Mayo senior middle hitter Heather Robinson, who scored 15 kills and finished with seven ace blocks, including three in the decisive fifth game. Robinson did her damage from all over the court, spiking balls from the middle and edges of the net, as well as preventing Austin hitters from doing damage by presenting a strong blocking force for the Spartans.

"If Heather’s on, we do well," Mayo coach Shannon Peterson said. "We try to run our offense to get her the ball as much as possible."

The Packers rallied from an 8-4 deficit to win the opening game, and never trailed in the second game despite missing three serves in the game and 12 for the match.

Mayo jumped out to a 7-2 lead in game three, but Austin used ace blocks by Thersa Hirsch, Andrea Lindgren and Stacy Fisher to pull within 13-8. But a kill by Robinson and an ace serve by Trisha Shimek closed out the game for Mayo. Shimek also closed game four with an ace serve, before Mayo cruised to a 15-4 win in game five.

Hirsch finished with a match-high 16 kills, while Lindgren had six and was 21-for-22 serving. Ellie Ramseth had 20 set assists and Becky Hermann was five-for-five serving for Austin.

The Packers (10-13-2 overall, 3-6 Big Nine) will find out Sunday when and where they will play in the first round of the section playoffs.