Aberdeen Central could not get into a rhythm on Tuesday night.

The Golden Eagles dropped a 25-16, 25-12, 25-17 Eastern South Dakota Conference volleyball match to Watertown at Golden Eagles Arena.

Central coach Jackie Bindenagel gave the Arrows credit for their performance.

“Watertown’s a really, really good team,” Bindenagel said. “They’ve got just a lot of offensive weapons.”

The fourth-rated Arrows (23-5) came out and built a lead in the opening set, while also throwing the Golden Eagles out of rhythm on their side of the net.

“We struggled to run our offense a little bit,” Bindenagel said. “They were coming at us pretty fast all night long.”

Central freshman Lauryn Burckhard said the team struggled without senior Grace Kuch, who is out with an injury, as well finding energy.

“I think one of the main differences is not having Grace,” Burckhard said. “We need to have more energy on the court and everyone needs to pick it up, and everyone needs to do their jobs on the court to be able to get a win against a good team like Watertown.”

Despite the challenge of containing the swings from Watertown’s leading hitters Emery Thury (14 kills) and Emily Tisher (10 kills), Bindenagel said there were positives to take away.

“Looking back on Saturday, I thought we serve received a lot better tonight,” Bindenagel said. “I thought we served more aggressively tonight, so there’s some positives to take away there.”

Bindenagel said the Golden Eagles got caught in some tough rotations and also gave credit to Watertown’s stout defense.

“We tried to find the open spots defensively,” Bindenagel said. “They’re a very good defensive team. I felt like we got stuck in some rotations and just couldn’t get rotated through them, but that’s just how volleyball goes.”

Burckhard said the team was able to keep their composure and compete despite Watertown’s potent offense.

“Some kids picked it up on the court,” Burckhard said. “We had some good sets, some good saves and with that energy, together we can make good things happen.”

Watertown held control of sets two and three despite Central’s efforts.

Burckhard led the Golden Eagles with nine kills and said she needed to bounce back from last week.

“I thought I had a pretty frustrating week, and I was not doing very good, “Burckhard said. “I told myself ‘This is my game. I need to come back, I need to bring it for the team, not just only for Grace, but for everyone.’”

Madison Miller led the Eagles from the service line with a match-leading four aces.

Ayrlie Waldo received an award before the match for her 1,000th set assist, which she achieved on Sept. 28 against Brandon Valley.

Central will look to bounce back next Tuesday when they host Sioux Falls Roosevelt.

“We’re just going to keep trying to play our game with our serve and our serve receive, and then try and find some way to get our offense going all the time,” Bindenagel said.

The Golden Eagles, 13-9 on the year, will close out the regular season on Nov. 2 when they play at second-rated Sioux Falls Jefferson.

Serving: Watertown (Natalie Pearson 15-15 3 aces, Emery Thury 13-14 2 aces, Miranda Falconer 11-11 1 ace); Aberdeen Central 40-44 5 aces (Madison Miller 13-13 4 aces, Ayrlie Waldo 7-8 1 ace).

Hitting: Watertown (Thury 30-32 14 kills, Emily Tisher 23-24 10 kills, Eve Hauger 16-17 7 aces); Aberdeen Central 80-98 19 kills (Lauryn Burckhard 20-26 9 kills, Kenadi Withers 11-13 3 kills, Taryn Nieman 9-10 3 kills).

Setting: Watertown (Falconer 88-88 35 assists); Aberdeen Central 88-89 18 assists (Waldo 76-77 14 assists).

Digs: Watertown (Pearson 13, Addis Johnston 12); Aberdeen Central 42 digs (Sawyer Bahr 10, Waldo 8).

Blocks: Watertown (Carter Jurrens 1 solo, Hannah Herzog 2 assists); Aberdeen Central 3 solo, 4 assists (Nieman 2 solo 2 assists, Waldo 1 solo, Withers 2 assists).

Records: Watertown 23-5; Aberdeen Central 13-9.