Blossoms beat down Lourdes 3-1

Blooming Prairie volleyball started its 2023 season with a win by traveling to Rochester Lourdes and leaving town with a 3-1 win.

The Awesome Blossoms benefited from early aggression to build a lead, and despite a second-set hiccup, managed to pull out the decisive victory.

“For most of our team, this was their first varsity match. Only Macy Lembke and Addison Doocy return as regular starters from last season. There were nerves, for sure. After we lost set two so handily, the girls could’ve lost focus and rolled over. However, I’m proud of them for dusting themselves off and returning to find their stride. We still have a lot of work to do, but it was nice to win our first game with this new team,” said Blooming Prairie head coach Gina Hendrickson.

Blooming Prairie came out firing in the first set and built up a comfortable lead early on, but late aggression from Rochester Lourdes tightened up the first set late.

The Awesome Blossoms managed to pull out the 25-20 win in set one, but the tide of the game shifted soon after.

In the second set, Rochester Lourdes managed to earn the 25-16 win to tie the game at 1-1 and completely halt Blooming Prairie’s momentum.

The third set was the closest and came down to the wire with both teams trading early leads.  Ultimately, Blooming Prairie emerged with the set win at 25-22.

With Rochester Lourdes on the ropes, the Awesome Blossoms closed out the match with their most decisive set win at 25-13.

“This group has been working hard to beef up our floor defense and court coverage. I believe that is what won us this game.  Our net play started to come around later in the match, but it was our scrappy floor defense and ability to push through the out-of-system balls that earned us a win,” said Hendrickson.

Middle hitter Addison Doocy was a menace on the court for the Awesome Blossoms and recorded a team-high 12 kills and seven blocks in the win.

Setter Macy Lembke led the team with 29 set assists, while defensive specialist Layla Lembke had a team-high 18 digs on defense.

Next up for Blooming Prairie is a home matchup against Goodhue on Tuesday, Sept. 5 at 7:15 p.m.