The Austin volleyball team opened its home schedule with a lot of energy and a lot of hitting as it topped Blooming Prairie by scores of 25-9, 25-15, 25-23 in Packer Gym Thursday.

The Packers (2-4 overall) opened the first two games in dominating fashion and they had to come back to win the third game. Austin jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the first game on a nine-point serving run by Amber Hansen, who had 11 kills, five blocks and four aces, and it led 11-3 early in the second game.

“We ran some plays and we continued to work hard as a team,” Hansen said. “It was a lot of fun and everyone was super ecstatic the whole time. I don’t remember one time when we were down.”

The Awesome Blossoms (4-4 overall) led the final game 15-13, but Hansen was able to tie things up at 16-16 when she came up with a couple of kills. Austin pulled away when Lauryn Peterson had a late kill to make it 24-22.

“The kids played very well together,” Austin head coach Cindy Owen said. “We had a lot of energy, they trusted each other with where they were going to move together and they played very well tonight.”

The Packers took a big step to be more aggressive in hitting against BP. They had previously been too tip happy in their earlier matches, but they came out swinging on Tuesday.

“We have to keep on hitting, keep on pushing and keep on being aggressive at the net to excel,” said Austin setter Trinity Gray, who had eight set assists and six digs.

BP was led by Marissa Larson, who had nine kills and Bria Baldwin had 15 digs. BP head coach Ranell Kittelson said her team struggled with serve receive in the loss.

“Overall tonight was a match of too many unforced errors and not showing up on serve receive. There was a lot of things that did not click for us tonight, which led to a quick loss,” she said.

Austin played in front of a big crowd in its home opener and Gray said that lifted the attitude of the squad.

“We were very happy that everyone showed up to support us,” Gray said. “There was a lot of people saying we were not going to be so good this year and it was going to be a building year. We proved them wrong and we’ve got to keep doing what we do.”

Austin stats: Awenia Nywesh, 7 points serving, 2 ace serves, 4 kills, 7 set assists, 2 digs, 2 blocks; Amber Hansen, 12 points serving, 4 aces, 11 kills, 5 digs, 5 blocks; Trinity Gray, 1 ace serve, 1 kill, 8 set assists, 6 digs, 3 blocks; Mary Willrodt, 2 kills, 4 digs, 2 blocks; Lauryn Peterson, 9 points serving, 16 digs; Kylie Dechaine, 5 points serving, 1 ace, 8 digs; Jenna Braaten, 6 set assists, 2 digs

BP stats: Marissa Larson, 9 kills, 3 blocks; Bria Baldwin, 15 digs; Kylie Forystek, 8 digs; Leah Inwards, 10 set assists