RAPID CITY – Aberdeen Central secured a set, but was unable to sustain momentum Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles capped off their season with a 25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17 setback to Sioux Falls Lincoln in the seventh-place match of the Class AA State Volleyball Tournament at The Monument.

“It sucks getting eighth place, but going into it, you have to look at how many teams aren’t playing right now,” said Central senior Madison Miller. “It’s the last day of playing volleyball in the state of South Dakota and there’s how many other teams? I’m just thankful that my team is one of them, that we get to play.”

To be sure, qualifying for the state tournament was on the list of goals to start the season. The fact that the Eagles made it for the first time since 2020 was just one of numerous highlights during the course of the season.

“There’s a lot of bright spots this season,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel, “so getting here was one.”

Another was that the team received statewide recognition after a solid start to the campaign.

“When the season started the kids were upset because we were nowhere in the preseason polls, not a receiving vote,” Bindenagel said. “And the first week of October we hit number five.”

However, the squad was dealt a severe blow when it lost leading hitter Grace Kuch to a season-ending injury and had to regroup on the fly. The Eagles were able to secure a spot in the state tourney, and on Saturday made some noise, leveling their match with Lincoln at a set apiece.

After coming up just short in the opening set, Central overcame an 18-16 deficit to claim set two.

However, just when it appeared that the Golden Eagles had harnessed some much-needed momentum, the match changed instantly.

“I think volleyball is always a game of momentum. One good kill, one good hustle play, just changes everything,” Miller said. “The flow can just go in whoever’s team that has the momentum. We always used to say, ‘steal the bacon’, go out there and take it from them.”

It was Lincoln that stole the momentum at that stage. The Patriots bolted out to a 7-1 lead to start the third set and the match was never the same after that. Lincoln dominated the majority of the final two sets to close out the match.

“We just kind of died off,” said Central senior Ashley Wangler. “We were really quiet. We weren’t talking. We couldn’t get anything going.”

Trailing late in the third set, Bindenagel called a time out and had a question for her players.

“We called that timeout. I think it was 20-8,” Bindenagel said. “I’m like how do we want to go out of here? And they responded.”

The Eagles pieced together their best surge of the tournament, reeling off nine of the next 11 points, including seven in a row to claw back to within five points. However, it wasn’t enough to catch the Patriots.

“We just wanted to do what we came here to do,” Wangler said, “and that was play our game and we did.”

Wangler finished with 13 kills and Lauryn Burckhard added 11 for the Golden Eagles.

Bindenagel said the match could have turned out differently if a few close balls had gone Central’s way.

“We had a lot of kids that just did some nice things,” Bindenagel said, “and we had some shots, Lauryn had a couple of shots that were out by less than an inch, and I think we had a couple of serves that went long by about an inch. It was kind of a game of inches today.”

Central wrapped up the season with a 14-14 record and a ton of memories, including playing in the state tournament for the first time in three seasons.

“I’m so proud of everybody on our team,” Miller said.

She reflected on a couple of the highs and lows after playing her in final high school match

“It was a great season,” Miller said, “rough … with Grace going out, but it’s all so crazy that I get to finish the season with my sister playing by my side, so that was really fun.”

Serving: Aberdeen Central 12 aces (Sawyer Bahr 4, Emma Dohrer 3, Madison Miller 2, Arylie Waldo 1, Ashley Wangler 1, Lauryn Burckhard 1); Sioux Falls Lincoln 6 aces (Linnea Nesheim 2, Jazmen Kutey 2, Addison Albrecht 1, Ella Warden 1).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 43 kills (Wangler 13, Burckhard 11, Alivia Miller 9, Kenadi Withers 5); Sioux Falls Lincoln 36 kills (Nesheim 8, Kaitlyn Koel 7, Emma Kruse 6).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 42 assists (Waldo 38); Sioux Falls Lincoln 34 assists (Josie Tollinger 15, Warden 13).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 57 (Waldo 15, Bahr 13, Maddie Sandvig 7, Dohrer 5, M. Miller 5); Sioux Falls Lincoln 64 (Julia Blom 15, Warden 12, Nesheim 8, Tollinger 7).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central 6 assists (Taryn Nieman 3, Withers 1, A. Miller 1, Burckhard 1); Sioux Falls Lincoln 2 solo 26 assists (Kutey 1 solo 7 assists, Hadlie Groen 6 assists, Nesheim 5 assists, Kruse 4 assists).

Records: Aberdeen Central 14-14; Sioux Falls Lincoln 15-12.