SIOUX FALLS – Aberdeen Central isn’t merely satisfied with a state tournament berth.

The Golden Eagles want state tournament success.

Central is back in the culminating event of the Class AA state volleyball season for the second straight season – the first back-to-back appearances for the Golden Eagles since their streak of 18 straight appearances ended in 2017 – and are not merely here for a good time.

But they’ll need to deal with Harrisburg first.

Central gained entrance into the tournament as the No. 9 seed, knocking of eighth-seeded Spearfish in the SoDak 16. As a result, the Golden Eagles will play top-seeded and undefeated Harrisbug in the opening round.

“Our kids are playing pretty well right now,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “We’ve focused on Harrisburg in the sense of we just need to slow the ball down. We need to serve and serve-receive well, which is really the key to every match. So hopefully our kids are prepared and can connect a few things and we can give them a good run.”

In fact, it was a stretch of three straight losses at the end of the regular season that has the Golden Eagles feeling a measure of confidence heading into the state tournament.

“Our last three regular-season matches were against some of the best teams in the state with Watertown, (Sioux Falls) Roosevelt and (Sioux Falls) Jefferson,” Bindenagel said. “We lost them all but we felt like we competed better in every single one. I think that showed up in Spearfish, so we just need to carry that to these next three days and know we’ve played with those best teams. We just need a few more things to go our way.”

Bindenagel said the Golden Eagles have focused some on other teams in terms of strategy, but the majority of their focus has been shoring up their strengths.

“It is a lot of focusing on ourselves,” she said. “We’ve spent the better part of two weeks really trying to fine-tune things that we can do well and also keying on our defense because that’s going to be a huge aspect of the weekend.”

Ultimately, there are really no surprises when it comes to taking the court, but surprises aren’t necessarily what the Golden Eagles are after this weekend.

“It’s going to be huge for us to get there and play well and find that success,” Bindenagel said. “Because I’d like to think we have a lot of starters that will be returning next year, so hopefully we can get an even higher position and go in with a higher seed and not have that first round against the top seed right off the bat. Gaining more experience and finding ways to win at the tournament.”

Central and Harrisburg will kick off the tournament at 11 this morning at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.