RAPID CITY – Aberdeen Central was forced to play from behind all match and ended up falling to unbeaten Harrisburg to open the Class AA State Volleyball tournament Thursday afternoon at The Monument.

The Golden Eagles led only for a brief moment in a 25-18, 25-16, 25-18 setback.

“We did play uphill all day,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “I thought we did some of the things we set out to do, but then we would have a lull.”

Those lulls proved to be too much to overcome.

The Tigers built double-digit leads to start out the first two sets and forced Central to play defense for a good share of the way.

“It felt like we ran our serve-receive offense pretty well, which forced them into scramble,” said Harrisburg coach Ronette Costain, “and then they were out of system a lot, so then we had to kind of pick up the tips and the roll shots.”

The Eagles were forced to try to dig up balls from a variety of Harrisburg hitters, who racked up 41 kills on the day.

“It gets pretty hard because they kind of just switch it up last minute,” said Central libero Sawyer Bahr, “but usually you can read it pretty good.”

Bahr led the Eagles with 10 digs, some where she ended up doing the splits to keep the ball off the floor.

“It’s pretty hard. Usually I do the splits a lot during games,” Bahr said. “It hurts pretty bad, but at least (the ball’s) up, so.”

Central never quit and played a more competitive third set, leading briefly to start the set and then battling to near-even terms before Harrisburg eventually pulled away.

“You can go down the line, every position had things they did well,” Bindenagel said, “and things that they need to improve for (Friday).”

Despite possessing a two-set lead, Costain and the Tigers were far from comfortable.

“We were a little worried actually … because we watched them play Pierre and they were down two sets and zero on Pierre,” Costain said of Central’s comeback to win a SoDak 16 match. “You can’t count anybody out. Desperation does great things.”

In the end, the Tigers were able to secure another victory, the 45th consecutive for the program.

“That record doesn’t mean anything to us unless we finish this off,” said Costain, who played high school volleyball for Webster.

Interestingly enough, Harrisburg (now 29-0) does not have a single senior on the squad, but Costain said that is not an issue.

“They don’t lack for leadership. They are best of friends,” Costain said. “These guys have a ton of fun together and they’ve got the maturity of senior players. They don’t get rattled. They just keep going.”

Gabi Zachariasen topped Harrisburg with 14 kills, but had to change a few shots thanks to the Central defense.

“They don’t make a lot of mistakes. Zachariasen hit some wide right and that’s because Kenadi Withers put a block up in the right spot,” Bindenagel said. “To me, that’s a stat that’s just not on the sheet. We had some kids do some things well and we got them out of system a little bit, just not quite enough.”

Lauryn Burckhard paced Central with six kills, while Withers and Ashley Wangler each contributed five. Bahr had a team-leading three aces.

Going forward Bahr said the Eagles need to stay aggressive with their serving, which picked up throughout the Harrisburg match.

“We just need to read a little bit better and maybe get our serves a little bit more aggressive,” Bahr said. “We kind of served a little bit of fluffy ones.”

Bindenagel saw plenty of positives despite the setback as the Eagles head into their final two matches of the season.

“I thought our defense did a nice job. I know for (Friday) we want to maybe read a little bit better on some of those tips and stuff,” Bindenagel said. “I thought our serve receive did well, and then after set one I thought we served more aggressively. We need to stay aggressive at the net, too.”

The Golden Eagles, 14-12 on the season, will take on Watertown in consolation action at 11 a.m. today.

Bindenagel said the team will regroup and move on from the opening-round setback.

“Now we have a new goal and that’s to come home with that consolation trophy,” she said, “so no time to worry about this one.”

Serving: Aberdeen Central 8 aces (Sawyer Bahr 3, Madison Miller 2, Lauryn Burckhard 2, Ayrlie Waldo 1); Harrisburg 10 aces (Karalynn Leach 5, Maggie Meister 2, Lindsay Langner 1, Josalyn Samuels 1, Kennedy Kokenge 1).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 20 kills (Burckhard 6, Kenadi Withers 5, Ashley Wangler 5, Alivia Miller 3); Harrisburg 41 kills (Gabi Zachariasen 14, Leach 9, Bergen Stiff 7, Kokenge 5).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 18 assists (Waldo 17); Harrisburg 39 assists (Samuels 35).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 31 (Bahr 10, Emma Dohrer 7, Waldo 5); Harrisburg 46 (Meister 14, Zachariasen 9, Langner 8, Kokenge 7).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central 2 solo 4 assists (Taryn Nieman 2 solo 1 assist, Waldo 1 assist, Withers 1 assist, Wangler 1 assist); Harrisburg 8 assists (Lauren Venenga 4, Stiff 2).

Records: Aberdeen Central 14-12; Harrisburg 29-0.