RAPID CITY – Things went according to seeds for Aberdeen Central during the opening day of the State AA tennis tournament on Thursday.

For the most part, the Golden Eagles won the matches they were expected to and just missed pulling off an upset or two.

“Overall, a decent day,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz. “Kind of did what we supposed to do.”

The flight two doubles team of Mitchell Hofer and AJ Prehn advanced to the semifinals. The number four seed had a bye and then defeated a squad from Rapid City Stevens.

The Eagles are sitting in sixth place as a team.

“We knew odds were, based on what the seeds were and where the points were supposed to come, we thought we’d be in the middle group battling with all those teams we did at the ESD (Eastern South Dakota Conference)…and that’s right where we are,” Kurtz said.

He noted that even though Central lost some close matches on the day, those players bounced back to earn victories after that. As a result, the Golden Eagles have a lot of players still remaining in consolation round matches when play resumes today.

Kurtz said recovering from a setback is one of the goals they talked about heading into the state tourney.

“That’s always one of them, try never to lose two in a row or if you lose one, go get your head straight, don’t go pout about it, don’t get frustrated, but bounce back and get points for the team and the next win,” Kurtz said. “We did a really good job of that today. That’s a credit to our kids that they were able to get their loss out of their mind after a while, and then be able to focus on their next match.”

SINGLES

First Flight

GABE GOETZ: def. Anson Griffin, Rapid City Central, 6-0, 6-0; lost to Alexander Lupu, O’Gorman, 6-0, 6-3; def. Mark Mahowald, Watertown, 10-3.

Second Flight

IAN AHLBERG: lost to Anthony Erickson, Sioux Falls Jefferson, 6-2, 5-7, (10-7); bye; def. Jeremy Dahl, Rapid City Central, 10-2.

Third Flight

MITCHELL HOFER: def. Jaxon Jung, Rapid City Central, 6-1, 6-0; lost to Cooper Johnson, O’Gorman, 6-4, 7-5; def. Tristan Eizinger, Rapid City Stevens, 10-6.

Fourth Flight

AJ PREHN: def. JoshuaPark, Brookings, 6-0, 6-1; lost to Liam Sarmiento, O’Gorman, 6-2, 6-3; lost to Brayden Rausch, Harrisburg, 10-8.

Fifth Flight

SEKOU GOGUE: def. Kyan Kemmis, Sioux Falls Jefferson, 6-3, 6-4; lost to Will Koziara, O’Gorman, 6-1, 6-1; lost to Max Phares, Rapid City Stevens, 10-5.

Sixth Flight

JACK RIGGS: def. Caden Patzwald, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, 6-2, 6-4; lost to Harold Mayer, Sioux Falls Washington, 6-1, 6-2; lost to Zander Binde, Watertown, 10-8.

DOUBLES

First Flight

GABE GOETZ-IAN AHLBERG: def. Ayden Asche-Aditya Tuumala, Brookings, 6-0, 6-2; lost to Asa Hood-Dayler Segrist, Rapid City Stevens, 6-1, 7-5;

Second Flight

MITCHELL HOFER-AJ PREHN: bye; def. Nick Paikos-Tristan Eizinger, Rapid City Stevens, 6-2, 6-4.

Third Flight

SEKOU GOGUE-MICHAEL FROHLING: lost to Kyan Kemmis-Carter Kemmis, Sioux Falls Jefferson, 6-1, 6-2; lost to Chase Rima-Harold Mayer, Sioux Falls Washington, 6-0, 6-1;