Aberdeen Central spotted an opening against Rapid City Stevens Saturday afternoon and exploited it.
The Golden Eagles consistently hammered cross-court kills on the way to a 23-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20 non-conference volleyball victory at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.
“We haven’t had a chance to watch any of these teams, yet,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel, “but once the match got going we could see they were shifted way in, so our kids knew to take that ball back across court.”
Whether it was Grace Kuch or Leah Gough, the Eagles pounded balls to the same area to rack up one kill after another. Kuch finished with 18 kills, while Gough had a dozen in just 33 total attempts.
“Our outsides did a really great job,” Bindenagel said. “Leah was just hitting some spots that maybe she hadn’t hit for a while, so that was really fun to watch. She was pretty explosive, too.”
Gough said she likes that angle to begin with, and it worked out even better against the Raiders.
“I like to hit that spot anyways, but we knew it was open, because they kind of get sucked in,” Gough said. “Zone 4 is always open usually with those teams so it’s really hard to pick it up, and if they can’t pick it up, then it’s out of system and then it’s easy for us.”
Central bolted out to an 8-1 lead to start the match. However, the Eagles were unable to close out the set, falling 25-23.
Central jumped in front again in the second set, and this time finished strong with Gough recording a couple of kills to cap off the win.
The Eagles pulled away from a 12-12 tie in the third on the way to winning that set and owned an 18-15 lead in the fourth after scoring five straight points. However, Stevens responded with six unanswered points of its own for a 19-18 edge.
Central put an exclamation point on the victory winning the final five points of the match, a pair coming on Madison Miller aces. The Eagles finished with 14 aces in all.
“We’ve just really been focused on aggressive serving and I felt like we kept them out of system quite a bit,” Bindenagel said. “That was our game plan today and the kids did a great job.”
Sydney Evans led the team with five aces, while Arylie Waldo had two aces to go along with 34 set assists, many ending up in Gough kills.
“I think Arylie and I just have a really good connection and I like to time it really well,” Gough said. “Our team chemistry this year is just great. It’s so good.”
Bindenagel also praised Waldo’s defense, thwarting the Raiders’ attempts at catching the Eagles off guard with the setter sending the ball over early.
“I thought our defense was fantastic. Ayrlie Waldo picked up quite a few that their setter hit over on that second attempt,” Bindenagel said. “We were waiting for that setter and our kids responded well.”
As a result, Central collected its third win in five days to start the season in its best performance of the season.
“This is the best we’ve played,” Bindenagel said, “and this is the best team we’ve played.”
The Eagles play at Huron on Tuesday before hosting Pierre on Saturday afternoon.
Gough knows there is always room for improvement, but likes the way her team is playing.
“I think we can always build on communication. Although I did think we communicated well today, I think we can always be a bigger block at the net,” Gough said. “I’m just looking forward to the rest of the season with these girls, because I love them.”
Serving: Aberdeen Central 78-86 14 aces (Sydney Evans 13-15 5 aces, Madi Aldridge 9-10 3 aces, Ayrlie Waldo 11-13 2 aces, Sawyer Bahr 10-12 2 aces).
Hitting: Aberdeen Central 137-154 44 kills (Grace Kuch 54-61 18 kills, Leah Gough 30-33 12 kills, Madi Struble 18-20 6 kills).
Setting: Aberdeen Central 146-146 34 assists (Waldo 136-136 34 assists).
Digs: Aberdeen Central 76 (Evans 33, Waldo 17, Anna Malchow 10, Bahr 8, Madison Miller 7).
Blocks: Aberdeen Central 2 solos 4 assists (Ashley Wangler 1 solo 2 assists, Struble 1 solo 1 assist).
Record: Aberdeen Central 3-0.
