BROOKINGS – Aberdeen Central kicked off the new season in dramatic fashion, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to claim a 3-2 win over Brookings Tuesday night in Brookings. The Golden Eagles won the Eastern South Dakota Conference match by set scores of 20-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-17 and 15-7.
Golden Eagle coach Jackie Bindenagel said she liked the way her team fought despite the early deficit.
“It took us a while to just settle into the match,” Bindenagel said. “Once we were able to get rolling with our serve and serve-receive, our level of play improved overall.”
As a team, Central finished with 16 service aces, seven of which came from junior Lauryn Burckhard. Taylin Kleffman and Maria Vrooman added three each.
That effort from the line boosted the Golden Eagle offense overall, as Burckhard added 22 kills and 18 digs, while Vrooman notched eight kills and Kleffman had 22 digs.
“I thought our girls did a great job of hanging in there and finding a way to win down the stretch,” Bindenagel said.
With the first-match jitters behind them, Central faces another stiff road test with back-to-back matches Friday and Saturday at Rapid City Central and Rapid City Stevens, respectively.
“We head out west on Friday, so we have a couple days to make some adjustments before then,” Bindenagel said.
Serving: Aberdeen Central 94-105 16 aces (Lauryn Burckhard 17-22 7 aces, Taylin Kleffman 12-13 3 aces, Maria Vrooman 9-9 3 aces).
Hitting: Aberdeen Central 138-162 48 kills (Burckhard 51-60 22 kills, Vrooman 17-21 8 kills, Jaidyn Forsyth 22-26 8 kills).
Setting: Aberdeen Central 120-120 36 assists (Alivia Miller 63-63 17 assists, Camryn Albrecht 45-45 14 assists).
Digs: Aberdeen Central 88 (Kleffman 22, Burckhard 18, Albrecht 10, Kenadi Withers 10).
Blocks: Aberdeen Central 1 solo 6 assists (Karlie Nieman 1 solo 2 assists).
