Unfortunately two different teams showed up for the Eagles in the serve receive game and it bit them in the end as the Tri-City United Titans came back to earn a five-set victory in a Big South Conference volleyball match.

The Titans won 17-25, 25-10, 23-25, 25-14, 15-12.

In what was a dominant first set, few mistakes were made by the Eagles as they got their offense clicking. A similar spark showed in the third set, but when the Titans took their sets, they really took them.

“Once our serve receive isn’t good, then we hit chaotically rather than controlled,” Eagles head coach Christine Skoglund said. “So, that’s what happened in the second set and fourth set, and then the fifth set, we just let them get through our block too much and they got consecutive points and then we just couldn’t catch up.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Avarey Sellner (8) is congratulated by teammates Keira Sullivan (17) and Izzy Longtin (11) following a kill during a home volleyball match against Tri-City United on Monday.

Calli Koop led the Eagles with 11 kills, while Keira Sullivan had eight kills, 11 digs, three blocks and two aces. Izzy Longtin added 16 set assists, 12 digs and six kills for the Eagles, while Lauren Schmiesing had 14 digs, six kills, three blocks and two aces, Lily Poehler had 15 set assists, Gracie Baker had 14 digs and Karly Meier had 14 digs.

Sullivan looked good at the middle of the net in the opening set, giving the Eagles an early 8-2 lead on a kill. Moments later during a 7-0 Eagles run, she added another two kills, while Koop added an ace serve. That run put New Ulm 17-7.

The Titans hung around, but a kill from Schmiesing and a spike from Longtin had the Eagles a point away from a Set 1 win. The Titans stayed alive after a serving error, but they returned the favor with a serving error of their own to finish the set with a New Ulm win.

Set 2 saw the Eagles lead just once, 1-0 to start the set after an attack error. After that, the Titans were able to take a lead 10-3 after a 7-0 run. Elaine Fink and Emme Beer, two 5-foot-10 middle blockers for TCU also capitalized on the scrambling Eagles with several kills and blocks during the second set.

“[Fink] was just putting the ball down and every time she was doing that, our back-row defense didn’t move up, so we talked and talked and talked about that,” Skoglund said. “Anytime the ball comes off the block on a touch, our back-row defense has to move up. Every time there’s a hole in the block, the back row has to move up.”

The Titans finished the second set on a 10-2 run to tie the match.

In the third set, the Eagles were back to showing what worked for them in Set 1, but it was a little close for comfort this time. Despite trailing 11-6 early on, the Eagles came back and eventually took the lead 20-19 after an ace from Sullivan. After tying it up twice late, the Titans allowed a kill by Schmiesing and an error to put the Eagles up 24-22. A kill from Fink kept the Titans alive, but an error ended the set in favor of New Ulm.

The fourth set looked early on like the Eagles were going to run away with it, going up 10-4 early. But the Titans put together a 12-0 run after that to lead 16-10, with a timeout by Skoglund in the middle of it doing nothing to slow the Titans down.

After trailing 10-4, the Titans finished the set on a 21-4 run to force the fifth set.

New Ulm had an early 3-0 lead in Set 5 after a Longtin kill, a TCU violation and an ace from Avarey Sellner. TCU tied it up at 3-all before kills from Koop and Longtin gave what ended up being the Eagles’ final lead as the Titans pulled back in front and stretched their lead to 14-8 on an ace from Lily Kaplan.

New Ulm hung on with a kill from Meier, back-to-back TCU errors and a kill from Sellner, but an attack error by the Eagles ended the set and match.

Skoglund said she was proud of her team sticking with it in the fifth set, but she said the team will have plenty of time to practice their defense and serve receive before a Saturday tournament at Jackson County Central. She is also hoping to have senior hitter Brooklyn Lewis back for the tournament after Lewis injured her ankle during the Eagles’ previous home match against Worthington last week.

That tournament is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.