SIOUX FALLS – It was a fitting finish for the Aberdeen Central tennis team on Friday.

The Golden Eagles received a third-place victory from Gustavo Carrara, took eighth as a team and won another team Sportsmanship Award during the State AA tournament.

“We had a good tournament,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz. “You look at the points, we finished exactly where on paper we should have.”

Carrara capped off his year with the Golden Eagles by winning an intense battle for third place at flight four singles.

“It was a really fun match. A lot of emotion going on both ways which brought a big crowd,” Kurtz said. “It ended up being a tiebreak. Every point, just huge cheers from the crowd, just kind of like a second day of a state tournament should be.”

Carrera ended up dominating the tiebreak to win the match.

“I’m really happy for him. He played really well,” Kurtz said. “He got frustrated a couple times and was able to was keep his head and finished off his year great. It was a good win.”

The day marked the final matches for senior lead AJ Prehn, who lost a close match for ninth at top flight singles, but teammed with Carrara for two victories to claim ninth at number one doubles.

“That kid, he’s awesome,” Kurtz said of Prehn. “Obviously, we’re going to miss him a ton. He was so sick these last two days and he just battled, and just couldn’t come out on top.”

Still, Prehn was able to contribute 21 points to the team total at state and provided valuable leadership for the Golden Eagles the past few seasons.

“He’s obviously been our leader and he’s our Spirit of the Eagle winner for the last couple years,” Kurtz said. “He’s been our captain.”

Kurtz noted that Prehn played a key role in helping Central repeat as the team Sportsmanship winner.

“So we won the Sportsmanship award again. Might be the first time in AA history where somebody won it back-to-back,” Kurtz said. “And we won it three of the four years. So, three of the four years he’s been kind of one of our leaders when we won the Sportsmanship. … He’s a great kid, well respected.”

Aric Tennant defeated his opponent in the ninth place match at fifth flight singles.

For the first time in more than a decade there is a new state team champion as Harrisburg edged Sioux Falls Lincoln for the title. The crown came down to the final match at flight three doubles, pitting the top two teams against each other with the winner of that match securing the state team championship. Harrisburg won that match 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

Central finished with 169.5 points and less than 15 points out of sixth place.

“It was a really good tournament,” Kurtz said, “it could have been better, but overall really good.”

Team Points: Harrisburg 494.5, Sioux Falls Lincoln 473, O’Gorman 403, Yankton 267, Rapid City Stevens 234, Brandon Valley 184, Mitchell 184, Aberdeen Central 169.5, Watertown 112, Sioux Falls Washington 90, Sioux Falls Jefferson 85.5, Rapid City Central 36, Brookings 31, Sioux Falls Roosevelt 16.

SINGLES

First Flight

AJ PREHN: lost to Skyler Stanton, Watertown, 10-8.

Third Flight

DAWSON PEDERSON: lost to Asher Dannenbring, Mitchell, 10-4.

Fourth Flight

GUSTAVO CARRARA: lost to Maverik Ragon, Harrisburg, 6-1, 6-1; def. Benjamin Pekas, O’Gorman, 10-9 (7-1). THIRD PLACE.

Fifth Flight

ARIC TENNANT: def. Asher Vandewater, Sioux Falls Jefferson, 10-6. NINTH PLACE.

DOUBLES

First Flight

AJ PREHN-GUSTAVO CARRARA: def. Stanton-Meester, 10-6; def. Walter-Erickson, Sioux Falls Jefferson, 10-6. NINTH PLACE.

Second Flight

MASON LIGON-DAWSON PEDERSON: def. Kemmis-Baumgarten, Sioux Falls Jefferson, 10-1; lost to Star-Thompson, 10-5.

Third Flight

ARIC TENNANT-MIKA DANNEN: lost to Roozenboom-Robbennolt, Rapid City Stevens, 10-0.