BROOKINGS – Aberdeen Central, playing without its top two players, split a pair of Eastern South Dakota Conference tennis duals on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles defeated Brookings 6-3 and dropped a 7-2 decision to Yankton.

Central got a big win from Mika Dannen at flight six singles as he pulled off a tiebreaker victory against Brookings. Dannen trailed 8-9 before holding serve to force a tiebreaker that he dominated 7-1.

“Had to serve a game and played a great game,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz, “held easily to get to the tiebreak. … Double-faulted early in the tiebreak, but then other than that he played great, which is good to see.”

After that double fault, Dannen scored seven straight points to finish off the match.

“Last year he just lost so many tight matches and it just kind of hurt him mentally a little bit, he lost a little confidence when matches got tight,” Kurtz said. “This year now he’s a winning those matches. Just shows kind of what experience and a year of maturity does. I’m happy for him. That was a good win.”

Central played without AJ Prehn, out with an illness, and Mason Ligon, who was at all-state band.

That provided an opportunity for Dawson Pederson and Gustavo Carrara to team up as a doubles team for the first time and the duo split two matches.

“Since both of their doubles matches didn’t count, they wanted to play together,” Kurtz said. The matches did not count because neither was able to play with his regular partner.

“They got off to a good start against Yankton,” Kurtz said. “It was neck-and-neck there for a while. … They played well together. It was kind of fun to watch them play.”

The Golden Eagles had their hands full against Yankton.

“Yankton’s really good. Coming in I thought they were kind of a clear-cut number two in the conference behind Harrisburg this year,” Kurtz said. “They got second last year in the conference and they return five of their guys; very solid team.”

Central now competes in the ESD Tournament on Monday and Tuesday in Watertown.

“We’re kind of primed up for Monday, Tuesday,” Kurtz said, following Saturday’s matches. “This was kind of the last building block to get ready for that.”

Aberdeen Central 6, Brookings 3

SINGLES

Zach Mueller, B, def. Gannon Pederson, 10-6.

Kerrick Zhang, B, def. Carson Goethals, 10-5.

Dawson Pederson, AC, def. Carson Kreie, 10-1.

Gustavo Carrara, AC, def. Brodie McCarty, 10-3.

Aric Tennant, AC, def. Andrew Hahn, 10-2.

Mika Dannen, AC, def. Xavier St. Pierre, 10-9 (7-1).

DOUBLES

D. Pederson-Carrara, AC, def. Zhang-Kreier, 10-1.

Mueller-McCarty, B, def. Brock Anderson-Wyatt Kiesz, 10-6.

Tennant-Dannen, AC, def. Hahn-St. Pierre, 10-4.

Yankton 7, Aberdeen Central 2

SINGLES

Zachary Briggs, Y, def. Gannon Pederson, 10-0.

Harrison Krajewski, Y, def. Carson Goethals, 10-0.

Dawson Pederson, AC, def. Christopher Rockne, Y, 10-7.

Gustavo Carrara, AC, def. Luke Moeller, 10-4.

Ethan Marsh, Y, def. Aric Tennant, 10-3.

Patrick Kralicek, Y, def. Mika Dannen, 10-6.

DOUBLES

Briggs-Krajewski, Y, def. D. Pederson-Carrara, 10-4.

Moeller-Christopher Rockne, Y, def. Brock Anderson-Wyatt Kiesz, 10-1.

Marsh-Kralicek, Y, def. Tennant-Dannen, 10-6.