Aberdeen Central played on its terms Thursday night on the way to sweeping fifth-rated Sioux Falls Washington.
The Golden Eagles saved a set point along the way and defeated Washington for the first time since 2020 with a 25-17, 26-24, 25-21 non-conference volleyball victory at Golden Eagles Arena.
“The girls really competed hard tonight,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “We were down at the start of every set … and just kept at it, never got rattled, they kept their cool.”
Central trailed 24-23 at the end of the second set, before scoring three points in a row.
Bindenagel said the Golden Eagles were on top of their game against the Warriors.
“We served aggressive all night long,” Bindenagel said. “There were elements of our game that were just better tonight than we’ve seen in our previous matches, so that was really exciting.”
The Warriors did not go down easily, but the Golden Eagles held their own at the net.
“Their hitters took some great swings at us and they of course got their kills,” Bindenagel said, “but we were able to defend and slow them at the net at little bit, too.”
While Central had just four aces on the night, the Golden Eagles set the tone from the service line, limiting what Washington was able to accomplish.
“I felt like we served really aggressive and they weren’t able to play defense like they wanted to out of serve receive,” Bindenagel said. “I just felt like we rattled them a touch with our serving.”
That is difficult to do against a traditional power like Washington.
“They’ve always got a great serve-pass game,” Bindenagel said. “It was nice to see them having to scramble a bit over there.”
Lauryn Burckhard topped the Golden Eagles with 16 kills. Taylin Kleffman led the Central defense with 20 digs.
Central, 6-2 on the season, plays at Huron on Tuesday. The Golden Eagles won a previous encounter in four sets. Bindenagel said her team needs to keep improving.
“You just have to keep getting better,” Bindenagel said. “You can’t sleep on anybody in AA or it turns into a long night.”
Serving: Aberdeen Central 70-73 4 aces (Camryn Albrecht 19-19 2 aces, Alivia Miller 9-11 1 ace, Taylin Kleffman 12-12 1 ace).
Hitting: Aberdeen Central 105-122 39 kills (Lauryn Burckhard 38-45 16 kills, Jaidyn Forsyth 16-18 7 kills, Kenadi Withers 15-20 4 kills, Amelia Rife 9-9 4 kills).
Setting: Aberdeen Central 106-106 34 assists (Albrecht 39-39 16 assists, Miller 44-44 13 assists).
Digs: Aberdeen Central 76 (Kleffman 20, Kamdyn Borge 12, Burckhard 12, Miller 9).
Blocks: Aberdeen Central 2 solo 6 assists (Withers 1 solo 1 assist, Forsyth 1 solo 1 assist, Rife 2 assists).
Records: Sioux Falls Washington 5-2; Aberdeen Central 6-2.
