Aberdeen Central posted a 25-18, 26-28, 23-25, 25-23, 15-6 non-conference win over Rapid City Stevens on Saturday in high school volleyball. The Golden Eagles defeated Rapid City Central on Friday.
"We were out of sync for most of the match," said Aberdeen coach Dennis Northrup. "We were just trying to hang on and put something together."
After winning the first set, the Golden Eagles trailed 20-12 in the second set, but came back to battle at the end before losing 28-26. In the third set, Central missed a serve at 23-all.
"We could have won game two. In games three and four, we got down early and missed a key serve. We didn't miss many serves. In games four and five, we got up early. I was going to let them play. A couple of times I got after them and told them, 'Hit the ball.' In that long of a match, there will be a few lapses here and there. We lost our confidence in games two and three," said Northrup.
Central went deep into its bench in the match.
"Sam Scepaniak played in games two and three," said Northrup. "Bridget White started a game. Kendall McDaniel was out there and Maggie Hepper played the whole match. We got a lot of kids some reps. It's hard to make the long trip out here. We have to come back out here for the state tournament so we got to play on the court."
The State AA tournament will be played at Rapid City Central High School on Nov. 15-17.
Aberdeen Central has just five regular-season matches remaining on the schedule. The Golden Eagles will next host Watertown at 7 p.m. Thursday at Golden Eagles Arena in an Eastern South Dakota Conference match.
Serving: Central 103-114 8 aces (Lauren McCafferty 26-28 4 aces, Caitlin Rasmusson 24-24 2 aces, Maddie Goetz 16-16 1 ace, Meggie Hanson 9-12 1 ace, Kelsey Hannigan 16-19)
Hitting: Central 146-163 54 kills (McCafferty 37-43 13 kills, Samantha Knecht 30-33 16 kills, Rasmusson 25-28 11 kills, Sara Niederbaumer 28-29 8 kills, Brianna Kusler 16-18 5 kills).
Setting: Central 1434-143 42 assists (Hannigan 63-63 23 assists, Goetz 67-67 17 assists, McCafferty 5-5 2 assists).
Digs: Central 89 (Hanson 23, McCafferty 15, Hannigan 12, Goetz 12, Maggie Hepper 9, Kusler 6, Rasmusson 4, Niederbaumer 4).
Blocks: Central 6 solo 28 assists (Knecht 3 solo 9 assists, Rasmusson 1 solo 5 assists, Kusler 5 assists, McCafferty 2 solos 3 assists, Goetz 4 assists).
Records: Rapid City Stevens 9-9; Aberdeen Central 12-2.