It may not have been the final result Aberdeen Central wanted, but the Golden Eagles still found what they were looking for.

After a rough match on Tuesday, Central rebounded at Golden Eagles Arena Thursday night. While third-rated Sioux Falls Washington grabbed a 25-15, 25-17, 26-24 non-conference volleyball victory, the Golden Eagles showed that they can compete with one of the top teams in the state.

“I thought we served better, I thought we passed better. Tuesday night we were very off,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “We just talked in the huddle and we can walk away from this feeling like hey, that’s more how we play volleyball.”

It wasn’t that Central played poorly, it just had a difficult time with Washington’s multi-pronged offensive attack. The Warriors can score from any position across the front row and are difficult to defend.

“We definitely have a lot of weapons,” said SFW coach Kelly Schroeder. “That was one of the things we talked about going into this match is, if we can get the middles going and pulling the middle blocker on Aberdeen’s side, that’s just going to free things up for our pins.”

And once those outside pin hitters get going, they are tough to stop.

“They’ve got some power. They can go and hit the ball,” Schroeder said. “As much as we can get one-on-ones with our attackers, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

It was small surges by Washington in all three sets that set the tone for each set victory.

In the opening set, the Warriors scored four unanswered points to build a seven-point advantage and Central never fully recovered. Washington closed the set on a 7-1 surge to cap the win.

The pivotal run came early in the second set as the Warriors scored the five points to put the Eagles in a hole they never got out of. While Central did rally, a 9-1 run left the visitors with a double-digit lead.

In the final set, Washington used a 6-1 run to build a lead and played with that advantage before the Eagles eventually responded with a surge of their own.

Central scored five straight points to tie the score at 24-24 before Washington claimed the final two points to close out the sweep.

“That team has the best outsides that we’ve seen so far. They’re so quick,” Bindenagel said. “I thought we did make some adjustments and we did get some touches, and I was actually pleased that we slowed them down a little bit. It was just the stretches in the middle of those sets.”

Washington had four players with at least five kills on the night, and was able to pressure the Central defense throughout the match.

“It was just a tough night. It was hard to really block and be able to stay with their hitters, because their setter is very good and is able to push it back and forth really quickly,” said Central senior Ayrlie Waldo. “Honestly, just trying to find the splits or staying outside of the block, and just getting a hand on anything we could.”

The Eagles had a solid night serving the ball, finishing the evening with eight aces led by Alivia Miller and Madison Miller each with three aces.

“On Tuesday, I felt like we just served to their platforms. We just served wherever the passer was,” Bindenagel said. “Tonight we took some more chances. You’re going to pay for that with a few misses. I thought short serves were open and sometimes you hit them and sometimes you don’t, and that’s how it goes.”

Waldo played a key role in that service attack. While she only had one ace, she was perfect in 17 serve attempts and kept the Warriors off balance.

“She serves them out of system a lot,” Bindenagel said. “She didn’t have a lot of aces, but they weren’t running their offense when she served, either.”

The shortest member of the Central squad at 5-foot-3, Waldo is able to come up big at the service line. She said practice helps.

“All the time that we’ve spent in practices and games, just serving constantly,” Waldo said of her ability to serve the ball. ” I try to stay more consistent than serving more hard or difficult, and it usually works out.”

Waldo said she usually tries to locate certain spots where she wants to serve before she strikes the ball.

“Usually, I try to aim for seams or short balls and try to pick on their DS passers or any hitters that are pulled back,” Waldo said.

Lauryn Burckhard led a balanced hitting attack for Central with eight kills. Grace Kuch followed with six and Ashley Wangler added five.

Central, 6-3 on the season, plays host to Huron on Tuesday in a rematch of a five-set thriller earlier earlier this season.

The Eagles will go into that match with some restored confidence following their encounter with Washington.

“We just wanted to come out tonight and reestablish how we play volleyball,” Bindenagel said, “and I felt like they did that.”

Serving: Aberdeen Central 43-51 8 aces (Alivia Miller 9-9 3 ace, Madison Miller 9-11 3 aces, Ayrlie Waldo 17-17 1 ace, Grace Kuch 8-9 1 ace).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 66-85 24 kills (Lauryn Burckhard 20-28 8 kills, Kuch 19-22 6 kills, Ashley Wangler 12-17 5 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 80-81 22 assists (Waldo 59-59 19 assists, Emma Dohrer 15-16 3 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 38 (Kuch 10, Sawyer Bahr 9, Dohrer 7).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central 4 solo 4 assists (Taryn Nieman 1 solo 2 assists, Burckhard 1 solo 1 assist, Wangler 1 solo, Kenadi Withers 1 solo).

Records: Sioux Falls Washington 5-1; Aberdeen Central 6-3.