A special of day of tennis wrapped up with a special match at the Holgate Tennis Courts Tuesday evening.

Former teammates AJ Prehn and Gannon May hooked up in a memorable battle in the top flight singles match of the Aberdeen Central and Aberdeen Roncalli dual. Prehn ended up prevailing to put a cap on a day that saw the Golden Eagles defeat Pierre 8-1 and Roncalli 9-0.

“Great crowd. Nice day for it. Good that we got to play. We haven’t played them for a while. Great matches, obviously end with that one singles,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz. “That was a phenomenal match. So many deuce points. That match took forever. Good flight one match. Glad AJ came out on top. He played really well down the stretch.”

Prehn and May have been friends for years and were teammates at Roncalli before Prehn transferred to Central a few years ago.

“That whole match, I was just thinking just how close me and Gannon have been throughout the years,” Prehn said, “and how we eventually found our way to playing each other at our last home match of our high school careers. That’s just really, really cool. It was definitely a big moment.”

It really couldn’t have been scripted much better as the friends faced each other on center court with the largest gallery of the season in attendance.

“The atmosphere was great,” May said. “AJ and I, we have had this match marked on our calendars for so long, been looking forward to it. … It was a great time playing with him.”

After a riveting first set that went to a tiebreaker, Prehn won the final five games of the second set to secure the victory. He said he had mixed emotions throughout the match.

“He was my doubles partner in eighth grade. It’s definitely a bit of a struggle, but we have a great relationship,” Prehn said. “We’ve played each other in a bunch of tournaments and stuff, never in a high school season, but I think for that match there, it is your friend you’re playing, but during each point, it’s your opponent.”

If there was one determining factor during the match it was Prehn’s big first serve.

“His serve is good. It’s one of the faster serves I’ve gone up against,” May said. “Usually a lot of people in Class A like to do a little slice serve or have a serve with a lot of spin, but AJ likes to hit the ball as hard as he can.”

In a match where there was little separation for the longest time, that serve proved to be the difference.

“I think about 80 percent of our games were deuce,” Prehn said. “My serve was a huge weapon of mine today.”

Both players now know what’s in store for the future: bragging rights for Prehn.

“He’s going to be talking about it the whole time,” May said. “It’s going to go on forever, until I finally beat him. It’s always fun playing him still.”

When asked if he will remind May of the outcome down the road, Prehn smiled and said, “Oh absolutely, he’s never going to forget it.”

While Central won all of the matches against the Cavaliers, they were anything but ordinary. Dawson Pederson enjoyed playing Linus Johnson in his victory at flight three singles.

“We’re just good friends. It’s hard to take serious, but I still had to win, I guess,” Pederson said. “I couldn’t just mess around.”

He said the dual had a different feel, “just because we’re from the same town. Most of us know each other and we’re good friends, so it makes it kind of fun.”

Pederson is now gearing up for the Eastern South Dakota Conference tournament next week and then the upcoming state tournament.

“There’s definitely some people that are better than me that I had some close matches with,” Pederson said, “so I’m looking for some upsets. I can definitely do it, but I’ll have to be playing well.”

Roncalli senior Ben Goebel had the tough task of taking on Central’s Gustavo Carrara, an exchange student from Brazil, at flight four singles.

“He’s really good,” Goebel said. “It’s surprising to me that he’s playing four … he could be playing up probably.”

Goebel is coming off a solid stretch of tennis last weekend in Sioux Falls.

“This past weekend in Sioux Falls, I was playing really well,” Goebel said. “I went 9-1 for the whole weekend, which is good.”

Goebel wants to keep the momentum going as he closes out his high school career.

“I’m hoping I can bring that to state,” Goebel said, “just because if I do I should have high hopes.”

Roncalli plays at the Pierre Invitational on Thursday and Friday. Central heads to Brookings on Saturday for a quadrangular with Huron and Yankton.

“We played well today. Singles is really coming into form,” Kurtz said. “Most of the year doubles has kind of been our strength, and then the last week or so our singles has been a little better.”

Aberdeen Central 9, Aberdeen Roncalli 0

SINGLES

AJ Prehn, AC, def. Gannon May, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.

Mason Ligon, AC, def. Ezra Feickert, 6-1, 6-3.

Dawson Pederson, AC, def. Linus Johnson, 6-1, 6-1.

Gustavo Carrara, AC, def. Ben Goebel, 6-0, 6-1.

Aric Tennant, AC, def. Caleb Stoks, 6-2, 6-3.

Mika Dannen, AC, def. Liam Voehl, 6-1, 6-0.

DOUBLES

Prehn-Carrara, AC, def. May-Haskell, 6-0, 6-1.

Pederson-Ligon, AC, def. Feickert-Goebel, 6-1, 6-1.

Tennant-Dannen, AC, def. Stoks-Voehl, 6-3, 6-2.

Aberdeen Central 8, Pierre 1

SINGLES

AJ Prehn, AC, def. Lucas Hight, 10-2.

Mason Ligon, AC, def. Jacob Leiferman, 10-3.

Dawson Pederson, AC, def. Noah Lueking, 10-0.

Gustavo Carrara, AC, def. Brady Lowery, 10-6.

Aric Tennant, AC, def. Levi Hight, 10-2.

Mika Dannen, AC, def. Jacoby LaRoche, 10-6.

DOUBLES

Prehn-Carrara, AC, def. Hight-Leiferman, 10-5.

Pederson-Ligon, AC, def. Lueking-Riley Southern, 10-7.

Lowery-Owen Heiss, P, def. def. Tennant-Dannen, 10-8.