Revenge doesn’t get any sweeter than this.

Not only did Aberdeen Central avenge a recent loss to Pierre, they did it with a reverse sweep and qualified for the Class AA state volleyball tournament in the process Thursday night at Golden Eagles Arena.

Central rallied from the brink of elimination to record a 24-26, 12-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-8 victory over the Governors.

“The kids just kept playing hard all night. We had talked so much, that we just had to settle in and battle and they did that,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “We have some kids with some really good numbers tonight, because they never backed off when we were down.”

And the Golden Eagles were definitely down.

After missing out on a set point in a tight opening set, Central struggled in the second set, and fell behind 18-15 in third, just seven points away from having its season end. The Eagles pulled out that set, then overcame a 15-12 deficit in the fourth set to level the match.

“Our stuff that was going wrong in the first and second sets, it wasn’t very far off,” said Central senior Ashley Wangler, “so I guess it was an easy fix and we were able to just go get it.”

Central got back into the match with aggressive serving, which led to 15 aces on the evening.

“We kind of just really had to put in confidence and realize that we have nothing to lose,” said Central senior Taryn Nieman, “so we just kept playing hard and our serve helped us out with that.”

It was the serve that actually helped to determine the final set as Central bolted out to a 4-1 lead and never trailed the rest of the way. Pierre had three service errors during the pivotal set.

“We were pretty efficient in the fifth and they missed some serves, and in a fifth set you don’t get to miss serves,” Bindenagel said. “I thought our kids capitalized on some of their errors. I have a lot of respect for Pierre. They played really hard tonight, too.”

The Golden Eagles had revenge on their mind after winning the first two sets at Pierre only to lose the final three late in the regular season. Somehow, it was only fitting that the opposite happened in Central’s biggest match of the season.

“Let’s just say it feels very surreal,” Nieman said. “It’s just a great opportunity, especially to have a reverse sweep at home.”

The Governors had been the frontrunners for the early portion of the match, but the Eagles were able to find a way to slow the visitors down when it mattered most.

“We knew we had to transition out to the line and we wanted to serve at them better,” Wangler said, “because we weren’t doing that the first and second sets.”

Lauryn Burckhard led a balanced attack for Central with 16 kills, Wangler followed with 10, and Nieman added nine.

Ayrlie Waldo topped the team with seven ace serves, and 40 set assists. Sawyer Bahr had 21 digs to lead the backrow.

“I think we had two or three kids with double digit kills, I thought Ayrlie Waldo made good decisions, our passers stepped up, we served pretty well,” Bindenagel said. “It was just a complete match for us.”

Central, 14-11 on the season, will enter the state tournament as the eighth seed and take on top-seeded and unbeaten Harrisburg in the opening round on Thursday in the first match of the day at 11 a.m. (MDT).

“The kids found a way and I am so proud of them. I am so happy for them,” Bindenagel said. “This is three years coming now, because 2020 was the last time we were there.”

Serving: Aberdeen Central 15 aces (Ayrlie Waldo 22-24 7 aces, Madison Miller 16-18 3 aces, Lauryn Burckhard 14-15 3 aces).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 123-142 49 kills (Burckhard 38-43 16 kills, Ashley Wangler 21-27 10 kills, Taryn Nieman 11-12 9 kills, Alivia Miller 24-26 7 kills, Kenadi Withers 17-20 7 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 134-134 41 assists (Waldo 129-129 40 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 62 (Sawyer Bahr 21, Emma Dohrer 11, Waldo 10, Madeline Sandvig 8).

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

Records: Pierre 10-11; Aberdeen Central 14-11.