From multiple ace serves to thundering kills, the Harrisburg Tigers showed why they are the top-rated team in Class AA this season.
Harrisburg set the tone early and collected a 25-12, 25-13, 25-12 Eastern South Dakota Conference volleyball victory over Aberdeen Central at Golden Eagles Arena Thursday night.
“They’re pretty good,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel.
The Golden Eagles had a plan to try to get some blocks up on the Harrisburg hitters. While they were able to do that on occasion, the Tigers were relentless at the net.
“We knew we couldn’t stop everything at the net, but just slow them down,” Bindenagel said. “I thought Karlie Nieman, Kyley Wirebaugh, Lauryn (Burckhard), we had some blockers that did that, (but) it was all night. It was just non-stop every play.”
And when the Tigers weren’t pounding down kills, they had setter, Nebraska commit, Josalyn Samuels dump balls over the net to find open spots in the Central defense.
“Those hitters get up in the gym and they can put that ball wherever they want,” Bindenagel said. “They’ve got the vertical, they’ve got finesse, they’ve got volleyball IQ. They’re just a quality team.”
Central was hoping to get the Tigers out of system with solid serving.
“It all starts out with a serve,” said Central senior Alivia Miller. “You want to try to get them out of system, obviously, because then they aren’t going to be able to hit it as hard.”
However, it was Harrisburg who collected numerous aces on serves that appeared to be heading out, but somehow landed in.
“They all dropped,” Miller said.
The Golden Eagles were able to record five assisted blocks on the night, including a memorable one by senior Kyley Wirebaugh that resulted in a point for the hosts.
“It left a little bit of a red mark on my hand, but it was fun,” Wirebaugh said. “Just having plays like that, even if you’re down it just automatically brings the energy up.”
Those handful of blocks also gave the Golden Eagles some confidence moving forward.
“If we can get up and put up a block against a team like this, we can do that against any team in the state,” Wirebaugh said.
In the end, the Tigers had too much firepower.
“Obviously, their setter is really tricky to read, so then blocking is even harder,” Miller said. “Having to find their hitter is a struggle.”
Burckhard had eight kills to lead the Golden Eagles. Miller finished the evening with two aces, four kills, nine set assists, and nine digs.
Central, 12-9 on the season, just wrapped a grueling stretch, playing nine matches in seven days.
“Obviously, it’s really hard,” Miller said. “We’ve been taking a lot of breaks to mentally and physically get back, because we still have a lot more important games that we need to win.”
That includes a five-match stretch to conclude the regular season as Central is trying to maintain its current seed position of eighth in order to host a SoDak 16 match.
“I just think at this point, we really just want to hold on to our spot right now where we’re at,” Wirebaugh said, “and just have that home-field advantage during our SoDak game, and just play for that.”
Next up is a match at Mitchell on Tuesday.
Bindenagel said the players are excited to play Mitchell and also for the rest of the regular season.
“They know the five that are coming,” Bindenagel said. “They know the order and they’re ready for each of them. They really want to be here for playoffs.”
Serving: Aberdeen Central 32-36 3 aces (Alivia Miller 8-8 2 aces, Camryn Albrecht 4-5 1 ace).
Hitting: Aberdeen Central 67-81 18 kills (Lauryn Burckhard 23-28 8 kills, Miller 11-12 4 kills, Kyley Wirebaugh 12-14 2 kills, Annie Bindenagel 11-14 2 kills).
Setting: Aberdeen Central 32-32 17 assists (Miller 32-32 9 assists, Albrecht 22-22 5 assists).
Digs: Aberdeen Central 32 (Miller 9, Kalli Huff 9, Julia Malsam 5).
Blocks: Aberdeen Central 5 assists (Wirebaugh 2, Kendyl Fischer 1, Burckhard 1, Karlie Nieman 1).
Records: Harrisburg 15-4; Aberdeen Central 12-9.
Serving: Aberdeen Central 32-36 3 aces (Alivia Miller 8-8 2 aces, Camryn Albrecht 4-5 1 ace).
Hitting: Aberdeen Central 67-81 18 kills (Lauryn Burckhard 23-28 8 kills, Miller 11-12 4 kills, Kyley Wirebaugh 12-14 2 kills, Annie Bindenagel 11-14 2 kills).
Setting: Aberdeen Central 32-32 17 assists (Miller 32-32 9 assists, Albrecht 22-22 5 assists).
Digs: Aberdeen Central 32 (Miller 9, Kalli Huff 9, Julia Malsam 5).
Blocks: Aberdeen Central 5 assists (Wirebaugh 2, Kendyl Fischer 1, Burckhard 1, Karlie Nieman 1).
Records: Harrisburg 15-4; Aberdeen Central 12-9.
