WATERTOWN – Aberdeen Central had a solid day in singles and a disappointing day in doubles during the opening round of the Eastern South Dakota Conference tennis tournament on Monday.

The Golden Eagles won four singles matches before dropping all three of its doubles.

“We had the makings of a really good day. Singles went better than expected,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz. “To get four of those six was really impressive. … We were pretty good favorites in two of the three doubles, had wins over those teams early in the year, and just did not play very well in doubles. As well as we played in singles, just kind of the opposite in doubles, really.”

While Kurtz said it was a “really disappointing end to the day,” he noted that the squad was just one win short of its goal on the day.

“If you look at overall, it’s not a horrendous day,” Kurtz said. “We were in the 4-5 (seed) match a lot.”

Kurtz said Gustavo Carrara was the two seed so he was expected to win.

“The other eight matches were kind of 50-50 matches,” Kurtz said. “We were hoping to get to five wins would be good, and we only got four.”

Moving into today’s semifinals in singles are AJ Prehn at first flight, Dawson Pederson at third flight, Carrara at fourth flight, and Mika Dannen at sixth flight.

The highlight of the day was Prehn pulling out a tiebreaker victory.

“He got down 6-9 actually, and then he just played perfect to finish,” Kurtz said. “He played three great games.”

The senior trailed love-30 serving at 8-9 and won four points in a row to force the tiebreaker.

Prehn got down 3-1 to start the breaker before scoring the final six points to secure the victory.

“He played really well down the stretch. That was a huge win,” Kurtz said. “That gave us huge momentum going into doubles, but couldn’t finish the day off.”

Kurtz noted that there are a lot of points still remaining when action resumes today.

“A lot of points to be had out there,” he said. “Obviously getting four flights to the semis is a pretty good thing.”

Kurtz said his team’s mentality will play a key role in how things shake out today.

“The whole key to our tournament will be how our mind frame is (Tuesday),” Kurtz said. “If we’re disappointed in how the day ended today and let that carry over or if we’re excited to earn some wins and earn some points (Tuesday).”

SINGLES

First Flight

AJ PREHN: def. Matthew Mauszycki, 9-9 (7-3).

Second Flight

MASON LIGON: lost to William Jensen, Brandon Valley, 10-6.

Third Flight

DAWSON PEDERSON: def. Matthew Bertsch, Watertown, 10-6.

Fourth Flight

GUSTAVO CARRARA: def. Maner Htoo, Huron, 10-3.

Fifth Flight

ARIC TENNANT: lost to Ethan Marsh, Yankton, 10-6.

Sixth Flight

MIKA DANNEN: def. Sam Karst, Watertown, 10-8.

DOUBLES

First Flight

AJ PREHN-GUSTAVO CARRARA: lost to Mauszycki-Jerke, Mitchell, 10-6.

Second Flight

MASON LIGON-DAWSON PEDERSON: lost to Bertsch-Fligge, Watertown, 10-7.

Third Flight

ARIC TENNANT-MIKA DANNEN: lost to Marsh-Kralicek, Yankton, 10-7.