BLOOMING PRAIRIE — The Awesome Blossoms showed how well they can handle a little adversity Monday night against Southland.

BP trailed in all games against the Rebels, but they were able to bounce back each time winning the match by scores of 25-21, 25-20, 25-16.

The Rebels (2-8 overall) led 10-6 to start the first game but BP came back to later tie the game at 17-17. Southland led game 17-16 late and it was up 9-8 in the third game.

But BP (10-6 overall) had an answer to every Southland rally.

“We look to each other a lot and we build off each other,” said BP senior Ayren Ingvalson, who had five kills and seven digs. “A match like tonight boosts our confidence.”

BP senior McKenna Hein stayed active around the net and was able to rack up 11 kills. She said the Blossoms are buying into the team concept this season and it has paid off.

“I think we’ve been working together more as a team and not for ourselves,” Hein said. “We always talk about pushing through together.”

BP has already surpassed last season’s win total of eight wins and it still has seven matches left on the season. BP head coach Ranell Kittelson said her team had some unforced errors on Monday, but they were able to overcome their struggles. That ability to adjust will be key for the Blossoms moving forward.

“We just want to take advantage of the momentum we have and we want to string some points. It’s such a game of momentum,” Kittleson said. “Our passing was a little off, so we weren’t able to run our offense the way we wanted to, but we when we did we could string some points. We have big blockers and some strong hitters. This team has been a lot of fun to coach this year. I have some high expectations to really finish the season strong.”

Brianna Johnson led the Rebels with 11 kills and five blocks. The Rebels have shown some recent signs of improvement and head coach Lisa Hovde liked how her team battled in the first two games against BP.

“In the first two games we played well, but we had too many serving errors and you cannot give those points away to a good team,” Hovde said. “We’ve played better in the last couple of matches and I think it’s getting better. We’re still changing the lineup in different situations and I was really happy with how they dealt with that tonight.”

BP stats: Heather Pirkl, 28 assists, 5 digs; McKenna Hein, 11 kills, 7 digs; Sam Wurst, 8 kills, 4 blocks; Julia Worke, 8 kills, 2 ace serves, 11 digs; Rachael Oswald, 3 ace serves, 2 blocks; Ayren Ingvalson, 5 kills, 1 ace serve, 7 digs; Linnea Beyers-Sunde, 11 digs

Southland stats: Brianna Johnson, 11 kills, 5 blocks; McKendry Kennedy, 5 kills, 1 ace serve; Emily Hovden, 2 kills, 2 ace serves; Lexi Shaw, 2 kills; Taylor Bhend, 11 set assists; Lilly Riddles, 8 set assists; Callie Kiefer, 9 digs