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FAIRMONT -- The Cardinals flew by the Eagles on a windy day.
Fairmont took a 5-2 victory over New Ulm in Big South Conference boys tennis action Thursday at the Cardinal Courts with the wind blowing tennis balls in every direction.
Thomas Klanderud was the first Cardinal to exit the courts when he took a dominant, 6-0, 6-0 win over the Eagles' Tate Trullinger at fourth singles. Five minutes later, Blake Haugen finished his 6-2, 6-1 victory over Max Gieseke at third singles.
Haugen went down 1-0 to start the first set, but won the next five games, before taking one of the final two games to win. Then Haugen won the first four games to start the second set and two of the final three for the victory.
Fairmont head coach Eric Johnson said he was pleased with his third and fourth singles players.
"Three and four singles played really solid," Johnson said. "They were really moving the ball around and making their opponent cover all of the court."
The Fairmont second doubles tandem of Evan Carlson and Aaron Hendricks were next to leave with a win. In each set, Carlson and Hendricks traded games to get up 3-2 against the Eagles' Ethan O'Connor and Dan Rosenhamer, before taking three of the final four in the first set to win, 6-3, and the final three in the second set to win, 6-2.
Jeb Green and Pete Ortega combined to take the meet-winning point for Fairmont at first doubles.
Green and Ortega lost their first set, 6-4, to New Ulm's Aaron Eikanger and Jack Brownfield, but came back to win the second and third sets, 6-2, 6-2, to take the match.
Johnson said the first and second doubles teams fought through tough first sets with a change in their mindset.
"I was really pleased with one and two doubles, who would be the first to tell you they were really struggling in their first sets," Johnson said. "We just came out and talked about playing to win, they were playing not to lose, and they just changed their attitudes and were able to run out their second and third sets."
The third doubles combo Stuart Smick and Jack Hagen took Fairmont's final point. The pair fell, 7-5, to Josh Rakoczy and Joey Gag in their first set, but came back to take the second set, 6-1. Due to the time of play, the match went to a tiebreaker instead of a third set. Smick and Hagen took the tiebreaker 10-3.
At first singles, the Eagles' Colton Collum took a hard-fought, 6-2, 7-5, win over Tyrell Zieske. Zieske fought back to go up 5-4 in the second set, but Collum took three of the final four games for the win.
Johnson said the match was a learning experience for Zieske.
"Ty made a good comeback, I think he learned a lot from this match," Johnson said. "Playing one or two singles is really difficult, especially when you've moved up from three or four singles. It's way more difficult and it takes a while to learn to play. You're used to getting away with some things at three or four singles that you can't at one or two. We'll get it, I'm confident of that."
Isaac Blumhoefer took a, 6-4, 6-2, win over Ameya Komaragiri at second singles for the Eagles.
Johnson said Komaragiri will bounce back from his struggles and overall Johnson was happy with the team's performance.
"I know Ameya is dissapointed, but he's a good player, he's gonna come back" Johnson said. "It was a tougher day with the wind. We knew we had to learn to play ugly and some of us had a little trouble adjusting to that.
"I was proud of the guys, they seemed to calm down and learn that every day is different, every opponent is different and you can't expect everyone to play the same way every day."
Fairmont (2-3) hits the courts again at 4:30 p.m. today when it plays host to Waseca, while New Ulm (2-2) travels to Faribault today.
Varsity Results
Fairmont 5, New Ulm 2
Singles: Colton Collum (NU) def. Tyrell Zieske, 6-2, 7-5. Isaac Blumhoefer (NU) def. Ameya Komaragiri, 6-4, 6-2. Blake Haugen (F) def. Max Gieseke, 6-2, 6-1. Thomas Klanderud (F) def. Tate Trullinger, 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles: Jeb Green-Pete Ortega (F) def. Aaron Eikanger-Jack Brownfield, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Evan Carlson-Aaron Hendricks (F) def. Ethan O'Connor-Dan Rosenhamer, 6-3, 6-2. Stuart Smick-Jack Hagen (F) def. Josh Rakoczy-Joey Gag, 5-7, 6-1, (10-3).