Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Josie Sellner digs a ball during a Big South Conference volleyball match against Waseca Thursday at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — New Ulm came away with a strong 25-20 win in Set 1 but dropped the final three sets of a Big South Conference volleyball match against Waseca Thursday, falling 25-9, 25-22, 25-17 to close out the match.

“We were doing everything right in [Set 1],” New Ulm head coach Christine Skoglund said. “We were getting our hits in, we were passing well, we were getting the blocks where they needed to be. Everything we were doing right in the first set. And we were serving right too.”

New Ulm has often played some sets strongly but let others fall through its grasp this season, and Skoglund and the team are working hard to find a solution to become more consistent.

“We’re still trying to figure that out as a team,” Skoglund said. “We have worked really hard on doing a lot of mindset stuff at practice. We’ve also worked on visualizations and we’ve worked on defense over and over and over again, blocking over and over and over again.

“Because I think that’s what happens. Our defense isn’t good, then our offense, it doesn’t spur on our offense. We’re going to keep going back to the drawing board tomorrow, and we’re going to keep working on our defense all practice until we get it right. We have to figure out a solution to that, and right now it is a pattern for us, and not a good pattern.”

Makena Meier led the team with 10 kills, while Brooklyn Lewis had six kills, 16 digs, a block and an ace. Morgan Hulke ahd two kills and 11 digs, while Kenzie Enter had 16 digs and 15 set assists.

Lewis got things going in the first set with a kill to spark a 4-0 run for New Ulm in Set 1. Waseca responded with a 4-0 run itself to tie the game back up, and the teams stayed within two points for several serves. New Ulm broke out of the deadlock with a kill by Meier helping the Eagles take a 13-10 lead.

The teams battled for several more serves, and New Ulm held onto a narrow lead with Lewis collecting another kill to pu the score at 19-16. Two swift points by Waseca drew a timeout from the Eagles, who recovered and closed out the match with kills by Meier and Lewis for the 25-20 victory.

Waseca flipped the script in Set 2, with the Bluejays jumping out to a 9-3 lead early. New Ulm recovered with the help of a kill by Hulke, hanging in down 17-8, but Waseca kept rolling, putting together a 8-1 run to close out the set.

Set 3 looked to be a repeat of Set 2 for the Eagles, with Waseca commanding an 8-1 lead to open, but New Ulm settled down earlier, going on a 5-2 run ending in a kill by Jocelyn Sellner to cut the lead to 10-6. The teams traded points, with the Bluejays climbing back to a 21-14 lead.

New Ulm put together a strong push at the end, going on a 6-1 run to cut the lead to 22-20 and force a Waseca timeout. However, the Bluejays were able to hold on for the 25-22 lead with a strong kill by Aliyah Taylor.

Set 4 again flipped to New Ulm early, with the Eagles going up 4-1 with help from an ace by Lewis. Waseca evened it up at 4, and the teams played a tight set until Waseca broke out for a 9-1 run to go up 19-11. From there, New Ulm played it even with the Bluejays but could not muster a comeback as Waseca took the set and the match.

New Ulm (1-14) travels to Belle Plain on Tuesday.