HURON – Aberdeen Central won some close matches, but couldn’t quite secure an extra one they needed to split a pair of tennis duals on Thursday.

The Golden Eagles fell to Yankton 9-0, before falling to Huron 5-4 in Eastern South Dakota Conference action.

Central started out the day against Yankton and got off to a good start, before struggling a bit after that, according to coach Trent Kurtz.

“We gotta do a better job of not thinking about the scorecards all the time and just playing the next point as well as possible,” Kurtz said. “Sometimes we get so mad at ourselves for not playing well or losing two games, and all of a sudden we’re down three games. We struggle to keep it together and a bad two-game stretch becomes a bad four-game stretch.”

The dual against Huron featured tight matches up and down the lineup.

Central grabbed a pair of wins at first and third flight singles from Dawson and Gannon Pederson, respectively.

“Good wins from the Pederson brothers,” Kurtz said. “Dawson was kind of in control of his match the whole way. …Gannon showed great toughness and fought back. He was down most of his match.”

Gannon Pederson was down 8-5 before winning the final five games to secure the win.

“Great job of him by not getting down and just continuing to compete,” Kurtz said.

That left the Golden Eagles trailing 4-2 heading into the doubles competition.

“Then go to doubles, we knew we had to have all three and we had chances,” Kurtz said.

All three were tightly-contested matches.

The Pedersons built an 8-4 lead, lost it, then finished it off with a 10-8 victory.

“Good job of those two by bouncing back,” Kurtz said. “Momentum is a huge thing in high school sports.”

Second flight doubles fell in a tiebreaker 7-5, and the third flight doubles team of Josiah Grandpre and Grayson Rehder rallied for a 7-3 win in a tiebreaker.

After rallying from an 8-5 deficit for a win on Monday, the duo overcame a 9-5 deficit for a win against Huron.

“Just started playing with energy and enthusiam and got the momentum on their side,” Kurtz said, “and really got aggressive.”

Central travels to Pierre next Thursday to face Brookings and Pierre.

Yankton 9, Aberdeen Central 0

SINGLES

Harrison Krajewski, Y, def. Dawson Pederson, 10-3.

Luke Moeller, Y, def. Aric Tennant, 10-7.

Chris Rockne, Y, def. Gannon Pederson, 10-4.

Ethan Marsh, Y, def. Wyatt Kiesz, 10-3.

Jack Pedersen, Y, def. Alex Tarver, 10-1.

Zan Becker, Y, def. Grayson Rehder, 10-3.

DOUBLES

Krajewski-Moeller, Y, def. D. Pederson-G. Pederson, 10-7.

Rockne-Marsh, Y, def. Tennant-Kiesz, 10-3.

Pedersen-Becker, Y, def. Josiah Grandpe-Rehder, 10-5.

Huron 5, Aberdeen Central 4

SINGLES

Dawson Pederson, AC, def. Htoo Zan, 10-6.

Lay Gay Soe, H, def. Aric Tennant, 10-8.

Gannon Pederson, AC, def. Klee Htoo, 10-8.

Ywa Hae Moo, H, def. Wyatt Kiesz, 10-4.

Riley Winegar, H, def. Alex Tarver, 10-4.

Jeremiah Notario, H, def. Grayson Rehder, 10-9 (8-6).

DOUBLES

D. Pederson-G. Pederson, AC, def. Zan-Htoo, 10-8.

Gay Soe-Hae Moo, H, def Tennant-Kiesz, AC, 10-9 (7-5).

Josiah Grandpre-Rehder, AC, def. Winegar-Jim Wah, 10-9 (7-3).