RAPID CITY – Aberdeen Central got its tennis season off to a solid start with a 8-1 win over Rapid City Central during the West River Invitational on Thursday. The Golden Eagles played just the doubles portion of their dual against Rapid City Stevens and won two of those three matches.

“Great first day. You don’t really know what you have until you start playing matches,” said Golden Eagles coach Trent Kurtz. “We could not probably have had a better day.”

The day started off with doubles against the Cobblers where the Golden Eagles swept all three matches.

Kurtz pointed out the play of brothers Dawson and Gannon Pederson at first flight doubles, who recorded a 10-3 victory.

“It was tight early. We got a break to go up 5-3 and never lost another game; just kind of carried it from there,” Kurtz said. “They played really well together.”

Aric Tennant and Wyatt Kiesz teamed up for a 10-1 at flight two doubles, while Alex Tarver and Grayson Rehder grabbed a 10-5 victory at flight three doubles.

“Two doubles played really well, got lot of free points off their serves when they did get their first serves in,” Kurtz said, “and three doubles got off to a great start and then lost three of four in the middle, and then it was good to see them be able to rebound and change the momentum back.”

It marked the first varsity match together for Tarver and Rehder.

“We haven’t worked a ton of doubles and they haven’t played a ton of doubles in their career,” Kurtz said. “There’s a lot of movement and angles and technique stuff that they’re going to get better and better at.”

The Golden Eagles won five of the six singles matches and played well in the match they dropped.

“Rapid City Central’s number one is a really good player,” Kurtz said.

While Dawson Pederson dropped a 10-0 decision, Kurtz said he played well.

“Dawson had a tough one at flight one, but he’s closer than he realizes,” Kurtz said. “Four of the first five games go to deuce. … He didn’t play bad.”

The Golden Eagles then won the top two doubles flights against Stevens. Kurtz said he couldn’t recall the last time that happened.

Tennant and Kiesz pulled out an 11-9 tiebreaker win at second flight.

“Two doubles were up a break the whole second half of the match and lost it right at the end,” Kurtz said. “And then had couple of match points in the tiebreak, and made great aggressive reads and kind of miss hit volleys, and then fought off a match point and were able to finish it. So, I like how they were able to bounce back.”

Kurtz noted that the Golden Eagles served well in the doubles matches.

“I would not say that we served a very high percentage,” Kurtz said, “but we were winning a ton of points just off our first serves, especially at one and two doubles.”

The Golden Eagles will finish off the Stevens match this morning and have two more duals this afternoon.

Aberdeen Central 8, Rapid City Central 1

Singles

Anson Griffin, RCC, def. Dawson Pederson, 10-0.

Aric Tennant, AC, def. Cade Jandreau, 10-2.

Gannon Pederson, AC, def. Rory Murphy, 10-2.

Wyatt Kiesz, AC, def. Bryce Atkison, 10-1.

Alex Tarver, AC, def. Cy Gabrylczyk, 10-0.

Grayson Rehder, AC, def. Leo Campbell, 10-3.

Doubles

D. Pederson-G. Pederson, AC, def. Griffin-Murphy, 10-3.

Tennant-Kiesz, AC, def. Jandreau-Atkison, 10-1.

Tarver-Rehder, AC, def. Gabrylczyk-Campbell, 10-5.

Aberdeen Central vs. Rapid City Stevens

Doubles

Dawson Pederson-Gannon Pederson, AC, def. Braden Nelson-Vance Divan, 10-6.

Aric Tennant-Wyatt Kiesz, AC, def. Jace Parkin-Lee Decker 10-9 (11-9).

Tom Raforth-Shane Callahan, RCS, def. Alex Tarver-Grayson Rehder, 10-3.