With a group of players seeing its first varsity action, there will likely be growing pains for Aberdeen Central, and Tuesday night the Golden Eagles grew up a bit more in their season opener.

The Golden Eagles were a couple of points away from taking control before succumbing to Brookings 23-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 15-10 in Eastern South Dakota Conference volleyball action at Golden Eagles Arena.

“They competed so hard,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel of her players. “There was a lot of stuff that was really good out there and a lot of stuff that we can fix. Until you have that first match, sometimes you don’t know what you need to fix.”

Featuring a team with some fresh faces on the floor, the Golden Eagles went toe-to-toe with the more experienced Bobcats, winning the opening set and battling throughout.

“Five-setter right off the bat. It was definitely tiring, but I mean we put in the work,” said Central freshman Kamdyn Borge. “It was a really good game. We put up a good fight. It was definitely nerve-wrecking, but it was fun.”

If Borge had any nerves about playing in her first ever varsity match, she definitely didn’t show it, racking up a dozen kills on the evening.

“I try not to show it, but I mean it was definitely nerve-wrecking,” Borge said, “but we fought through and I think the nerves kind of went away as I went and played.”

A strange sequence at the end of the second set proved to be costly for the Golden Eagles, who appeared to be on the verge of a commanding two-set lead.

Leading 21-18, Central was called for a rotation violation and then later had a bullet serve returned as a free ball that happened to land in the middle of a group of players for a key Brookings point as the Bobcats soon leveled the match.

“We could have had the match won in the second set. We were up 21-18 and then just weird stuff happened,” Bindenagel said. “Like we got the out of rotation call, a free ball came over and we weren’t ready, but we can fix those.”

The match was still up for grabs after that with Central again having opportunities. After winning the third set, the Golden Eagles were tied at 21-21 just four points from the match in the fourth set before Brookings pulled away to force a fifth set. And Central trailed 11-10 in the fifth, just five points from the match before the Bobcats scored the final four points to seal the victory.

Lauryn Burckhard finished with 20 kills to lead the Golden Eagles, and Kenadi Withers contributed 11.

Borge believes the team’s best days will be coming soon.

“We know that our potential is so high and that with the young talent that we have we know that we can do a lot of things that are going to be really great,” Borge said. “I think that with the seniors that we have they can really help us as well. They’re leadership has helped us so much, so I think we’re going to do great things coming up.”

Central is right back at it hosting Rapid City Stevens on Thursday and Rapid City Central on Friday at Golden Eagles Arena.

“Attitude in the locker room was great,” Bindenagel said. “The kids were really upbeat and now we just need to go out there and win. They need to get their first win under their belt.”

Serving: Aberdeen Central 9 aces (Kenadi Withers 4, Kamdyn Borge 2, Lauryn Burckhard 2, Abigail DeVries 1).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 138-162 51 kills (Burckhard 39-49 20 kills, Borge 38-43 12 kills, Withers 38-43 11 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 44 set assists (Alivia Miller 41 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 82 (DeVries 24, Miller 15, Burckhard 13, Borge 12).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central 3 solo 4 assists (Amelia Rife 2 solo 1 assist, Burckhard 1 solo 1 assist).