RAPID CITY – While Aberdeen Central lost first-round matches at the State AA Tennis Tournament on Thursday, the Golden Eagles still have opportunities to score points in eight of the nine flights when action resumes today.

“We were the lower seed in all nine first-round matches. A lot of them were 9-8s or 10-7s, so you hope you can pull a little upset and we just weren’t able to do that,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz. “A lot of tough matchups. I think every matchup we had lost previously through the year, so we knew it would kind of take a special effort to pull off some upsets and unfortunately we weren’t able to.”

However, the Golden Eagles were able to grab a couple of consolation victories in doubles.

“Really good bounce-back wins by 2 and 3 doubles,” Kurtz said, “so they’re playing for the consolation championship.”

Because of the way the tourney shook out, Central received a lot of byes in consolation rounds. That means points for those matches carry over into the next match so some of today’s matches will be worth twice as many points.

“We got all six in the consi semis for singles and four of those are matches worth double points,” Kurtz said.

While there weren’t many surprises on the day, Kurtz noted the level of play in a couple of doubles setbacks.

“We played by far the best sets of tennis we’ve played,” Kurtz said. “One doubles, Dawson (Pederson) and Alex (Tarver), they played a tremendous first set against Mitchell. Very similar in 3 doubles against team that just drilled us at ESD last week.”

At third flight doubles, Josiah Grandpre and Grayson Rehder lost the first set in a hard-fought tiebreak.

“Just playing with a lot of energy and a lot of emotion,” Kurtz said. “Once you lose that first set, it’s tough to maintain that energy and that emotion.”

Team Points: O’Gorman 360, Harrisburg 330, Sioux Falls Lincoln 289, Brandon Valley 218, Mitchell 179.5, Rapid City Stevens 179, Yankton 176, Sioux Falls Washington 122, Watertown 120, Sioux Falls Jefferson 39.5, Aberdeen Central 28.6, Brookings 26.5, Rapid City Central 23, Sioux Falls Roosevelt 13.

SINGLES

First Flight

DAWSON PEDERSON: lost to Anson Griffin, Rapid City Central, 6-3, 6-3.

Second Flight

ARIC TENNANT: lost to Xane Fligge, Watertown, 6-0, 6-2; def. Cade Jandreau, Rapid City Central, 10-2.

Third Flight

JOSIAH GRANDPRE: lost to Matthew Bertsch, Watertown, 6-3, 6-3; Bye.

Fourth Flight

WYATT KIESZ: lost to Dawson Hartman, Watertown, 6-2, 6-0; Bye.

Fifth Flight

ALEX TARVER: lost to Max Vincelli, Brandon Valley, 6-2, 6-2; def. Cy Gabrylczyk, Rapid City Central, 10-1; Bye;

Sixth Flight

GRAYSON REHDER: lost to Travis Rowberry, Brandon Valley, 6-0, 6-1; Bye.

DOUBLES

First Flight

DAWSON PEDERSON-ALEX TARVER: lost to Matthew Mauszycki-Cooper Starr, Mitchell, 7-5, 6-1; lost to Carter Kemmis-Charlie Erickson, Sioux Falls Jefferson, 10-4.

Second Flight

ARIC TENNANT-WYATT KIESZ: lost to Jace Parkin-Vance Divan, Rapid City Stevens, 6-2, 6-2; Bye; def. Andrew Lewis-Beckett Ruscitti, Sioux Falls Washington, 10-2.

Third Flight

JOSIAH GRANPDRE-GRAYSON REHDER: lost to Sanders Anshutz-Max Vincelli, Brandon Valley, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1; Bye; def. Aaden Tieszen-Canon Petersen, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, 10-2.