The Packers have found the fight to compete. Now they’re looking for the drive to finish.

Austin pushed it to the limit in a four-game match against Rochester Mayo, but it wasn’t able to close out a key game three as it lost by scores of 25-19, 22-25, 26-25, 25-15 in Packer Gym Tuesday.

Austin (3-10 overall, 1-3 Big Nine) was in position to take the pivotal third game when Avery Thompson, who finished with four kills, served an ace to tie things up at 24 after the Packers had trailed 23-19. But the Spartans (3-6 overall, 2-1 Big Nine) were able to score the final two points and they went on to jump out to a 15-10 lead in the deciding fourth game.

“We were a lot more technical about the game. We were better at reading their tips, their dumps and which direction they were hitting,” Thompson said. “We push harder when it gets closer, but we also need to have more intensity to finish it.”

The first game was tied at 18 before the Spartans scored seven of the last eight points and the fourth game was tied at 10-10 before Mayo made its push.

Austin head coach Lauren Cost said her team is still looking to find that competitive edge in close matches.

“I feel like they have the ability to do it, we just need the mental toughness,” Cost said. “There are things we can clean up in our game, but mental toughness is the big thing. We get stuck at a point in matches where we don’t finish and we open the door up for the other team to come through. We can’t allow that to happen.”

Austin stats: Avery Thompson, 4 kills, 3 ace serves; Erica Lundberg, 6 kills; Elyse Hebrink, 5 digs; Jenna Braaten, 24 set assists, 3 ace serves, 5 digs; Jodyn McCormack, 9 kills, 18 digs, 5 ace serves; Lilly Holtz, 4 ace serves, 6 digs; Madisyn Retterath, 9 digs; Taige Iverson, 5 kills, 5 ace serves