RAPID CITY – Aberdeen Central concluded doubles action at the Rapid City Invitational tennis tournament on Friday and then faced Rapid City Stevens for the second time this season.

The Golden Eagles overcame a slow start in doubles to record strong finishes and then dropped a 6-3 dual to the Raiders.

The top flight doubles team of Gabe Goetz and Ian Ahlberg grabbed fourth place in the tourney. They lost to Mitchell in the opening round in a close match. Earlier this week, Central defeated the Kernels in a close one.

“We didn’t win the close points today,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz. “Then we played really well in the third place match against Stevens. We just came up two points short in the tiebreak, but played really well.”

Mitchell Hofer and AJ Prehn finished fifth at flight two doubles. They struggled a bit against a squad they had handled earlier, but regrouped for a solid finish.

“When you’re not playing well the pressure kind of builds,” Kurtz said. “They got down on themselves a little bit and then they were able to find some energy and stay positive, and then they played well to finish the match.”

The flight three doubles team of Sekou Gogue and Michael Frohling also took fifth, defeating the Roncalli tandem of Landon Zikmund and Gannon May.

“They want that first match back against (Rapid City) Christian,” Kurtz said of the first-round setback. “They didn’t play their best there, they know that but then they bounced back with two good wins.”

Central then made progress against Stevens, gaining two more wins against the Raiders than in a previous meeting.

“We knew we had some chances (the first time). I think we lost maybe two match tiebreaks and one second set tiebreak,” Kurtz said. “We knew there were some flights we could be competitive with them. Today we were able to get a couple of those wins back.”

One of those matches Central flipped came at flight three singles where Jack Riggs scored a 10-6 victory to cap a solid week of tennis.

“He’s playing by far the best tennis he’s played of his life, probably, right now,” Kurtz said. “This week he played really well. That’s a really good win for him.”

Central has another busy week ahead with four home matches. The Eagles face Aberdeen Roncalli on Monday, Milbank Area and Watertown on Tuesday, and Sioux falls Lincoln on Friday.

Kurtz said the Eagles are definitely on the upswing coming off of the Rapid City tourney.

“I thought we played really well. There were obviously quite a few matches we would like to have won. We were close in a bunch of them. It comes down to deuce points and tiebreaks. Some of them we were on the right side and some we were on the wrong side, but we’re playing really well,” Kurtz said. “We’re playing the best we’ve played. That’s all I ask of these guys, keep improving, keep playing hard and keep competing, and they did that all weekend, so we’re on the right track.”

DOUBLES

First Flight

GABE GOETZ-IAN AHLBERG, Aberdeen Central: def. Murray-E. Woidyla, Brandon Valley, 10-8; lost to Larson-Loecker, Mitchell, 10-5; lost to Hood-Segrist, Rapid City Stevens, 10-9 (10-5). FOURTH PLACE.

Second Flight

MITCHELL HOFER-AJ PREHN, Aberdeen Central: lost to Dobbs-Hancock, Rapid City Christian, 10-7; def. A. Levine-S. Goyal, St. Thomas More, 10-2; def. R. Isburg-T. Sieber, Spearfish, 10-7. FIFTH PLACE.

Third Flight

SEKOU GOGUE-MICHAEL FROHLING, Aberdeen Central: lost to Geyer-Beckloff, Rapid City Christian, 10-6; def. Strain-Stamper, St. Thomas More, 10-1; def Landon Zikmund-Gannon May, Aberdeen Roncalli, 10-6. FIFTH PLACE.

Rapid City Stevens 6, Aberdeen Central 3

Singles

Asa Hood, RCS, def. Gabe Goetz, 10-6.

Nolan Rehorst, RCS, def. Ian Ahlberg, 10-4.

Mitchell Hofer, AC, def. Tristan Eizenger, 10-9 (7-4).

Dayler Segrist, RCS, def. AJ Prehn, 10-6.

Max Phares, RCS, def. Sekou Gogue, 10-6.

Jack Riggs, AC, def. Tommy Nehring, 10-6.

Doubles

Hood-Segrist, RCS, def. Goetz-Ahlberg, 10-3.

Hofer-Prehn, AC, def. Rehorst-Eizenger, 10-4.

Isaac Wright-Nehring, RCS, def. Gogue-Michael Frohling, 10-7.