RAPID CITY – Aberdeen Central once again faced an uphill journey at the Class AA State Volleyball Tournament Friday afternoon and that path featured many (road) blocks along the way.

Watertown racked up 20 assisted blocks to thwart the Golden Eagles 25-21, 25-19, 25-23 in consolation round action at The Monument.

Like they did in Thursday’s opening round, the Eagles fell behind early and were forced to play from behind all match. Central led just twice against Watertown, scoring the first point and then not leading again until 23-22 in the final set.

“Another uphill battle, but I feel like that’s a little bit what happens when you get to the state tournament,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “It’s not going to be easy. We just talked in the locker room. We needed to get here. Kids got here and now we just focus on the next match.”

The Arrows were able to build large leads in both of the first two sets. They found open spots in the Central defense, which was unable to get blocks up in time to prevent powerful spikes. Meanwhile, Watertown had its block working the entire way, preventing Central from stringing points together.

“We didn’t have very many runs,” Bindenagel said.

The only surge Central did have came when it trailed 19-9 in the second set. Sawyer Bahr, who finished with three aces, served four straight points, but the Eagles were never able to get the margin under five the rest of the set.

Bindenagel said Watertown was able to frustrate Central’s middle hitters with its blocks.

“We talked about cutting around the block, but Watertown was right there all day,” Bindenagel said. “They’re a good team.”

Central finally started to gain some traction in the third set as freshman Alivia Miller found a way around those blocks. She had six kills in the final set.

“They had an open court so you just had to look and find it,” Miller said, “and the (setters) did good setting the ball to the pin.”

Miller led the Golden Eagles with 10 kills on the day.

“Alivia Miller did a nice job on the outside,” Bindenagel said. “She kept us in the match, and then I felt like some of the kids started to feed off her, which is something when a freshman can step up and do that.”

When asked if she was a bit nervous, Miller responded, “Yeah, because there’s a lot of pressure on your shoulders.”

How was she able to handle that pressure?

“You just need to have the confidence and go for the ball,” Miller said.

There was literally little margin for error. Central needed every one of those points as it battled to stay in the match. The score was tied eight times before the Golden Eagles finally inched ahead by one, just two points away from securing the set. However, the Arrows responded with three straight points to finish off the sweep.

“Their block was pretty big,” Miller said, “so you just had to cut around it.”

Lauryn Burckhard added seven kills to the Central total, while Kenadi Withers contributed six.

“Everybody stepped up and played their part and just helped each other,” Miller said.

Miller is having a memorable initial state tournament. She described what the experience feels like.

“It’s really good,” Miller said. “You get the nerves at the beginning, but you just keep going, keep pushing, you feel good.”

Central, 14-13, wraps up the season by playing Sioux Falls Lincoln for seventh place at 11 this morning.

Bindenagel had a message for her players following the match.

“Well, at this point in the season, we’re not fixing a whole bunch of things,” Bindenagel said. “I said you can be mad for about five more minutes and then you need to enjoy the rest of the day and then get focused on the next match, because we can walk out of here now with seventh place.”

Serving: Aberdeen Central 5 aces (Sawyer Bahr 2, Ayrlie Waldo 1, Madison Miller 1, Lauryn Burckhard 1); Watertown 6 aces (Kynslee Johnson 2, Paige McAreavey 2, Natalie Pearson 1, Emery Thury 1).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 27 kills (Alivia Miller 10, Burckhard 7, Kenadi Withers 6, Ashley Wangler 2); Watertown 40 kills (Thury 13, Emily Tisher 8, Carter Jurrens 4, Hannah Herzog 4, Eve Hauger 3, Miranda Falconer 3).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 27 assists (Waldo 23, Bahr 3); Watertown 36 assists (Falconer 28, Pearson 5).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 46 (Bahr 10, Waldo 9, M. Miller 7, A. Miller 6); Watertown 72 (Pearson 20, Thury 18, Addi Johnston 12, Falconer 11).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central 2 solo (Taryn Nieman 1, Burckhard 1); Watertown 20 assists (Jurrens 7, Tisher 4, Thury 3, Hauger 3, Herzog 3).

Records: Aberdeen Central 14-13; Watertown 26-7.