NEW ULM — It was the “battle of the birds” on Thursday as the New Ulm Eagles defeated Fairmont’s Cardinals 23-25, 25-16, 25-9, 23-25, 15-11 in Big South Conference volleyball action.

Both teams played the fifth set with a lot of intensity. There were four ties and two lead changes during the set. Fairmont kept battling back, but the Cardinals could not complete the comeback. A Fairmont player knocked the ball into the net for the set and match point.

Fairmont fought hard to take the fourth set. There were seven ties during the set with the two squads matching each other point for point. A New Ulm player knocked the ball into the net to tie it at 22-22. The Eagles committed three unforced errors and an Eagle knocked the ball out of bounds to give Fairmont the set.

Things looked good for New Ulm in the third set. The Eagles were able to take the set, limiting Fairmont to only 9 set points. New Ulm jumped out early and kept the pressure on the Cardinals, who were unable to respond.

“We defeated ourselves and we lingered on our mistakes,” Eagles head coach Sarah Swanson-Cullen said. “We had to get down to the nitty gritty and come out with the win.”

Swanson-Cullen said that the Eagles flustered themselves, but they wanted to win the match more.

The Eagles build a cushion in the second set. Fairmont tried to come back, making solid defensive plays and taking advantage of Eagle mistakes. New Ulm was able to earn key points and slowly pull away from the Cardinals to win the set.

The first set went back and forth with both teams owning leads throughout it. As it went on, the Eagles were able to make the plays necessary when they needed to for the set win.

Laura Bertrang and Natalie Yackley said that the Eagles started out slow with their energy levels going up and down. The pair also said that there were breakdowns in communication throughout the match, but everyone was able to regroup and win.

Yackley had 33 set assists, 10 digs and three kills. Bertrang added 12 kils with two blocks. Ella Freiderich added 13 digs and Madalyn O’Connor had 11 kills, 11 digs and two blocks. Afton Hulke had eight kills and nine digs.

New Ulm will travel to St. Peter on Tuesday.