Aberdeen Central took the ups, weathered the downs and came away with a five-set thriller victory over Rapid City Stevens Thursday night in the Golden Eagles’ volleyball home-opener at Golden Eagles Arena. Central claimed the non-conference win by set scores of 15-25, 27-25, 25-18, 22-25 and 15-7.

Central struggled to find a rhythm in the opening set, but went to work in the second, clawing its way back in extra points to even the match at a set apiece.

From there, the Golden Eagles held sway in both the third and fifth sets despite a bit of back-and-forth action in the early portions of all three remaining stanzas.

“Our kids turned a big corner tonight,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “Stevens is a good team and we just settled in and worked.”

Central was led at the net by senior Lauryn Burckhard’s 15 kills and three blocks. Kamdyn Borge added another 10 kills, while Kyley Wirebaugh and Alivia Miller notched six kills apiece. The Golden Eagles also had a strong night at the service line, finishing with nine aces as a team. Kalli Huff had four of those, while Miller added three more. Karlile Nieman posted the remaining two.

“We had a really balanced attack and our routes kept their blockers guessing,” Bindenagel said. “I’m really proud of how we played.”

Central will host Rapid City Central at 5:30 this evening to wrap up the opening week of play. The Golden Eagles head to Spearfish next Thursday.

Serving: Aberdeen Central 98-104 9 aces (Kalli Huff 19-20 4 aces, Alivia Miller 24-25-3 aces, Karile Nieman 22-23 2 aces).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 123-145 48 kills (Lauryn Burckhard 41-50 15 kills, Kamdyn Borge 18-22 10 kills, Kyley Wirebaugh 19-22 6 kills, Miller 14-17 6 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 127-127 48 assists (Miller 59-60 23 assists, Camryn Albrecht 46-46 16 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 86 (Huff 24, Borge 19, Miller 17, Albrecht 10).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central (Burckhard 3 assisted).

Records: Aberdeen Central 1-1.