A win against a ranked opponent on Pink Out night. It doesn’t get much better than that for Aberdeen Central.
The Golden Eagles swept fifth-rated Mitchell 26-24, 25-15, 25-18 on their annual Pink Out night at Golden Eagles Arena Tuesday night.
“It’s just a special night to be in the gym,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “And then when our kids come out and play the way they did. Everything just went well, so we’re gonna enjoy this night.”
And for Lauryn Burckhard, it meant even a little more.
“I love Pink Out night. A lot of fans, favorite color. My mom had breast cancer and fought through it, so I play for her. I play for her every time, but just think of her the whole time,” said Burckhard. “She’s fought through it so hard and she’s one of my biggest supporters. … And then my grandma also had breast cancer and passed from it, so it’s just who I play for, who I think about. That’s what I was thinking about all day was playing for them, getting a big win for them.”
The Golden Eagles did get the victory, but it didn’t come easy. From early on, it was evident it was going to be a battle as neither team gained more than a two-point lead throughout the first set.
“We were in and out of rotations. We were just going everywhere. I think we handled it great. We never let them go on runs,” said Central’s Kamdyn Borge. “We were kind of back and forth, but overall, I think we handled it pretty good.”
Burckhard handled it really well, racking up eight kills in the first set.
The Golden Eagles also served well, setting the tone with three aces and getting the Kernels out of system, while they worked well at getting back in system.
“We kept them out of system a lot and that was one of our focuses. I didn’t think we passed especially well,” Bindenagel said. “But I thought we did a good job working out of system and our hitters got back so they could have some speed going forward.”
After having a tight first set winning in extra points, the momentum rolled over into the second set as the Golden Eagles got off to an 8-2 to start.
“I think our momentum kind of carried on throughout everything. I think it just gave us that extra push to do good,” said Borge. “I think that overall, we carried it over into everything.”
Unlike the first set, the Golden Eagles found themselves in scoring sprees which helped them hold a lead nearly the entire second set.
“There were no real serving runs in that first set, and the only difference in the second set is we had that serving run early on. And then another little one in the middle,” Bindenagel said. “We talked to the kids, if you can have a couple serving runs of three, you put yourself in a pretty good position to win the set.”
Owning a two-set advantage, securing the third set would prove to be a tough task for Central. In a set similar to the first, scoring went back and forth for a good majority of the time. Borge helped gain the momentum scoring three straight points for the Golden Eagles, giving them their first lead in the set.
“I knew we had to get it done. We’ve gone into four or five (sets) for games that we didn’t want to,” Borge said. “So, we just kind of knew we needed to get this one done, so we just were out there swinging away.”
Mitchell led 17-16 before Burckhard tied the match with a kill, and then did major damage from the service line, eventually producing three straight aces for a 22-17 advantage.
“It was so much fun. I could hear the student section behind me. I can try to zone them out, but it’s very hard. But they were supporting me,” said Burckhard. “And I switched up my toss for serving. I used to throw it up with one, and now I throw it up with two and it looks like it works, so we’ll keep it there.”
Defeating its first ranked opponent this season, the Golden Eagles will look to get into the right groove with the postseason right around the corner.
“I think a lot of teams underestimate us. We know who we are, and we know how we play, and I think we kind of showed that tonight,” Borge said. “Numbers are just numbers. We can play above what we are, and I think we showed well tonight.”
Central, 13-9 on the season, will hit the road this weekend to take on Pierre on Saturday.
Serving: Aberdeen Central 67-73 10 aces (Lauryn Burckhard 15-16 4 aces, Taylin Kleffman 15-16 3 aces, Alivia Miller 12-13 1 ace).
Hitting: Aberdeen Central 84-97 38 kills (Burckhard 36-45 16 kills, Kamdyn Borge 12-13 8 kills, Kenadi Withers 14-14 4 kills).
Setting: Aberdeen Central 90-90 32 assists (Miller 36-36 14 assists, Camryn Albrecht 32-32 14 assists).
Digs: Aberdeen Central 59 (Albrecht 11, Kalli Huff 10, Borge 9, Miller 9).
Blocks: Aberdeen Central 1 solo 9 assists (Burckhard 1 solo 1 assist, Withers 3 assists, Amelia Rife 2 assists, Karlie Nieman 2 assists).
Records: Mitchell 13-5; Aberdeen Central 13-9.
