ABOVE: Fairmont’s Ellie Ortega (10) attacks the ball during a Big South Conference volleyball match against New Ulm on Tuesday at New Ulm High School. Photo by Travis Rosenau/New Ulm journal.

NEW ULM — Despite getting their attack going and winning the second set against the New Ulm Eagles on Tuesday in a Big South Conference volleyball match, the Fairmont Cardinals couldn’t quite close the deal late as the Eagles earned a four-set victory 25-10, 20-25, 25-23, 25-18.

One night after picking up a four-set win in Spirit Lake, Iowa, the Cardinals were looking to add another four-setter to their win tally and make it two wins in a row after a 1-4 finish in the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown tourney this past Saturday.

The Cardinals had a rough first set that saw the Eagles take an early 14-5 lead after a kill by Brooklyn Lewis. The Eagles then closed the set on a 4-0 run, the final 2 points coming on back-to-back attack errors by the Cardinals.

Despite that first set, the Cardinals responded and turned in a strong second set and kept things interesting the rest of the match.

“These girls have a very good way of identifying of when they get themselves down, letting it go and starting it fresh and going after the next set,” Fairmont head coach Elizabeth Lowry said. “They’re a fairly younger team with new experience on the varsity level, but they’re learning to battle that every time and getting that mental block and pushing through it. And they’re doing a good job battling through that.”

That Fairmont comeback in the second set was aided by a hot start and 7-3 lead after a kill by Brylee Miller. The Eagles tied it up at 11-11 with a kill from Lauren Schmiesing and took the lead on a Fairmont error, but the Cardinals quickly took the lead back after a service error and an ace serve off the hand of Leslie Zarling.

After a block by Makayla Lowry gave Fairmont a 20-14 lead, the Eagles took their first timeout of the night. New Ulm got it within 2, 21-19, after an ace by Lewis, but the Cardinals closed the set on a 4-1 run to tie the match at 1-all.

New Ulm Eagles assistant head coach Kate Rabe, who was filling in for head coach Christine Skoglund, said her team struggled with their passing and finding timing on the block in the second set.

“I think Set 2 was hard because you could tell our passing wasn’t quite on,” Rabe said. “Fairmont started hitting, so obviously, if we’re not blocking well, then our back row doesn’t have a chance. So we had to adjust to the hitters and then time our blocks a little bit better.”

The Eagles jumped out to a speedy 6-2 lead in the third set after a kill from Lewis and a block from Calli Koop, but the Cardinals answered with a 5-0 run that gave them a 7-6 lead. That run started on a kill from Makayla Lowry and was followed up with back-to-back kills from Ellie Ortega, an attack error and a kill by Miller.

The teams traded points before Fairmont went on a 6-0 run to prompt another New Ulm timeout.

A late kill by Morgan Hulke kicked off a 5-0 New Ulm run that was finished with an ace by Koop that put the Eagles in front 21-20 and forced a Fairmont timeout. The score was tied up three times after that before New Ulm got the final 2 points of the set to go up 2-1 in the match.

After a block by Miller had it 8-8 in Set 4, New Ulm got a 4-0 run to lead 12-8. The Eagles kept enough distance and kept that 4-point lead midway through the set, getting a kill from Hulke to go up 18-14.

That Hulke kill turned into a 4-0 Eagles run that put them ahead 20-14 and gave them the momentum.

After a kill by New Ulm’s Makena Meier, Schmiesing’s match-ending block that gave the Eagles the win.

Miller led the Cardinals with nine kills, 33 digs and two blocks, while Ortega had seven kills, Zarling had 22 set assists and three aces and Jadyn Montgomery have five kills, two solo blocks and two block assists. Meredith Nemmers added three kills, while Makayla Lowry had two kills and two blocks for Fairmont.

Fairmont, now 2-9 on the year and 0-2 in conference play, has a lot of volleyball left to play. Coach Lowry is well aware of that and said the team is going to continue learning from mistakes and move forward.

“Our philosophy is, we’re not done,” coach Lowry said. “We are going to keep pushing forward and we learn from every single game. We go back, the girls are really good about watching video and analyzing it and we’re going to talk about where’s our holes, what do we need to fix, but also figuring out what chemistry is working on the floor, where we need to maybe fix what rotations. … We have this one-team mentality where we focus on we’re one team, and everybody has an input, everybody has a say and they’re really good about working together and figuring that out.”

Fairmont hosts St. James next Tuesday.