Rolling with the punches: Packers shake off delay and beat New Prague in four – Austin Daily Herald

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Austin’s Ulang Diang hits against New Prague in game two Thursday night in Packer Gym. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Austin’s Taw Reh plays the ball in game one against New Prague Thursday night in Packer Gym. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Austin’s Josue Ruiz Alvarado bounces an attack off of a New Prague block for a point during game one Thursday night in Packer Gym. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Austin’s Heaven Boy plays the ball in the back row during game one against New Prague Thursday night in Packer Gym. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Austin’s Sai Htay tips at the net against New Prague in game one Thursday night in Packer Gym. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

The Austin boys volleyball team overcame a venue change, a game three letdown and an upstart New Prague opponent as it prevailed in four games by scores of 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19 at Austin High School in a match that was played in both Packer Gym and Ove Berven Gym Thursday night.

The fourth game was tied at 17 when the Packers scored six straight points to put the match out of reach. Austin took momentum when it went up 21-17 on back to back kills by Lucas Myers.

The match took a turn for the weird when Austin was trailing 8-4 in the second game. With heavy rains outside, the roof in Packer gym sprung a leak and water started to drip on the playing floor near the net. After about a 20 minute delay of nets, fans and teams being moved across the hall to Ove Berven Gym, the match resumed right where it left off.

“I actually forgot about that, because we were so excited about the win,” Austin head coach Nate Thaw said. “There was nothing we could do about it and it was dripping water. We had to move.”

Lucas Myer snapped the crowd out of the lull during the delay when he put down a big kill to bring Austin within 8-5 as soon as play resumed. Austin eventually tied the game at 17-17 on a kill by Htay and it went on to go up 20-17 and the Packers pulled away.

Htay was the most consistent Austin hitter as he was able to attack from different angles, as opposed to attacking straight on.

“Placement is more important than power,” Htay said. “If you can hit your spot, they won’t expect it, but when you go power, they’ll always expect that and they’ll always beat it. I have so much fun with these guys and they always have my back. We never got our spirit down tonight, we tried our best and we were hustling all night to get points back.”

While the hitters did the work at the net, Austin senior and All-State soccer player JuJu Thawng was working the back row, keeping the New Prague hits off the floor.

“We play as a team and it’s a lot of fun for me back there,” Thawng said. “I can do whatever I want. I can dive for loose balls and that’s a lot of fun.”

New Prague took an early 8-4 lead in the third game, but Htay produced back-to-back kills to bring the Packers within 8-6. The game was tied at 8-8 and it went back and forth from that point. Austin went up 17-15 when Ulang Diang made a block at the net, but New Prague scored 10 of the last 13 points to force a game four.

Austin led 10-7 in the first game, when it put together an 8-3 spurt to create a gap. Htay, Taw Reh and Pedro Martins all had key kills during the game and Reh added a big ace serve to put Austin up 21-12. New Prague rallied as close as 21-18 before Htay put down a spike to make it 22-18.

The Packers (3-1 overall) are starting to find their rhythm on offense and defense as a group with many new players is coming together.

“Ever since our last loss, I’ve switched things up and things are working a lot better now,” Thaw said. “Players are much more comfortable in their positions. We’re not done yet and we still have a lot to get better at.”