Aberdeen Central got going at the net and blocked its way to a 3-1 match victory over Pierre Saturday afternoon at Golden Eagles Arena, rallying from a first-set loss to claim the overall home-opening win. The Golden Eagles won the Eastern South Dakota Conference match by set scores of 20-25, 25-20, 25-21 and 25-17.

The win marks Central’s first victory over Pierre since the 2020 season.

“Once we settled in in the second set, I felt like we ran our offense,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “We were pretty efficient. Pierre is a good team. I think they’re going to win a lot of matches, so that was a big win for us.”

It was also a bounce-back win for the Golden Eagles, who were coming off a five-set loss at Huron on Thursday.

“We had almost as many errors as kills against Huron,” Bindenagel said. “That’s certainly not the case today.”

And while the Golden Eagles were much more efficient at the net, much of Central’s success could be tied to its defensive efforts. Central finished with three solo blocks and 12 assisted putbacks, an effort spearheaded by senior Taryn Nieman.

“I think (the win) was a little bit of a comeback with a little bit of fire,” Nieman said. “We got our front row going a lot, which helped. We just really wanted to win at home.”

Nieman finished with one solo and six assisted blocks, often teaming with sophomore Kenadi Withers for some emphatic putbacks.

“I just had to read a little bit better,” Nieman said. “I knew they were going to push to their middles quite a bit, so I just locked in with her.”

The strategy worked.

“It kind of got in (Pierre’s) head,” Bindenagel said. “You could see their outsides start to struggle a little bit. Even if we weren’t touching the ball, they could just sense it because our block was set pretty well.”

Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles took care of business offensively. Grace Kuch finished with 18 kills and just one error at the net. Lauryn Burckhard had 14 kills.

Central, 4-1 on the season, will remain at home to host Spearfish and Sturgis next weekend.

“We talk a lot about building confidence,” Bindenagel said. “This is a group that has a lot of experience, so there’s no reason they shouldn’t play with a ton of confidence. Having that mentality of playing to win instead of playing not to lose is some next-level thinking they need to figure out.”

Serving: Aberdeen Central 89-92 6 aces (Emma Dohrer 15-16 3 aces, Ayrlie Waldo 23-24 2 aces).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 88-110 46 kills (Grace Kuch 26-27 18 kills, Lauryn Burckhard 20-26 14 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 68-68 32 assists (Waldo 53-53 24 assists, Dohrer 12-12 5 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 47 (Kuch 14, Sawyer Bahr 13, Madison Miller 11).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central 3 solo, 12 assists (Taryn Nieman 1 solo, 6 assists, Kenadi Withers 1 solo 3 assists).