Staff photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm’s Abby Hietala returns a volley during No. 3 singles action during the Eagles’ match against Marshall Tuesday at NUHS.

NEW ULM — The New Ulm Eagles battled on Tuesday but couldn’t quite come back from a 3-0 deficit as they fell 5-2 to Marshall at New Ulm High School in Big South Conference girls’ tennis action.

New Ulm’s Emma Maudal picked up a dominant 6-3, 6-3 win over Gionna Parsa in No. 1 singles, the first win for the Eagles on the evening after falling behind 3-0.

Maudal was on her game as usual and was happy with her performance.

“I did pretty good,” Maudal said. “Usually my matches last way longer, and it was a good day. Usually when I’m playing, they don’t let me know how the rest of the games are going because that can cause stress. It feels good to be the person that can give us a step towards that win.”

Unfortunately, Maudal and the Eagles ended up on the short end of things at the end of the day.

Cooler temperatures were around Tuesday evening and the wind made itself known periodically with gusts of around 15 miles an hour from the northwest. Maudal is already used to playing with these conditions as the end of summer nears, but she said that it does have an effect.

“I know that you can worry about your muscles pulling in the cold weather, but the wind — it’s a different game on both sides of the court, just because you’ve got to focus on hitting low one way and hitting high the other way just to get it in,” Maudal said.

Coming off of a strong performance in Worthington last Thursday, where the Eagles won 6-1, things took a different turn for New Ulm on Tuesday, despite several close battles.

In No. 2 singles, Kelsey Boreboom defeated New Ulm’s Makiah Otto 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, while Maddy Penske picked up a 7-5, 6-3 win over New Ulm’s Abby Hietala in No. 3 singles action. New Ulm’s Malia Emerson continued a fine start to her season, giving New Ulm the other win on Tuesday with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Eden Knudson in No. 4 singles.

In No. 1 doubles action, Madie Rowe and Kaitlyn Matzner defeated New Ulm’s Kellyn Emerson and Hannah Blumhoefer 6-3, 6-1. Marshall’s Kaia Christensen and Leah Matzner defeated Bethany Janssen and Abbey Frauenholtz in No. 2 doubles by a score of 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Marshall continued its roll in No. 3 doubles despite a big turnaround by first-year players Ashtyn Wiltscheck and Carli Botten in the second set. Samantha Nielsen and Samantha Ariasola defeated Wiltscheck and Botten 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.

The Eagles next host Hutchinson at 4:30 p.m. Friday.