HURON – It a while and then some, but Aberdeen Central eventually recorded a rare volleyball win at the Huron Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles fought back numerous times, before finally putting the finishing touches on a 25-21, 20-25, 28-26, 31-33, 15-8 Eastern South Dakota Conference victory over Huron.

“I believe 2018 was the time we won in the (Huron) Arena,” said Central coach Jackie Bendenagel. “We’ve lost in five maybe the last two years in a row.”

As the scores suggest, it was up and down match the entire way.

The first set was tied at 21-21 before Central scored the final four points. The Tigers leveled the match in the second set and appeared to be on the verge of grabbing a two sets to one advantage leading 17-11 only to have the Golden Eagles claw back and win the set in extra point 28-26.

That set the stage for a wild fourth set that featured a whopping 64 points. Again, Central trailed big, falling behind 18-10.

“We got up 24-22. We outscored them 14-4,” Bindenagel said. “We had a couple of match points there and then it was just back and forth, and back and forth.”

Central would have put the match away if not for a violation on match point at 24-22.

Instead, the Eagles fell in the epic set and then dominated the fifth set, racing out to a 14-4 advantage.

“Huron made a lot errors in the fifth and our kids made some plays,” Bindenagel said.

Lauryn Burckhard led the victory with 18 kills to go along with three ace serves. Kamdyn Borge contributed 15 kills, and Kenadi Withers added 11.

Alivia Miller had five kills, 42 set assists and 15 digs.

“I’m really proud of how they just kind of kept their heads,” Bindenagel said. “There was quite a long stretch in there where we were not playing well. They really didn’t panic. That says a lot about how they’re willing to settle in and work.”

Central, 3-1 on the season, heads west next weekend with matches at Spearfish on Friday and at Sturgis on Saturday.

Serving: Aberdeen Central 103-112 9 aces (Lauryn Burckhard 14-15 3 aces, Taylin Kleffman 17-19 2 aces, Kennedy Osborne 24-25 1 ace, Kenadi Withers 18-19 1 ace, Alivia Miller 10-10 1 ace, Abigail DeVries 10-10 1 ace).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 177-205 52 kills (Burckhard 50-59 18 kills, Kamdyn Borge 51-58 15 kills, Withers 42-50 11 kills, Miller 17-20 5 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 187-188 42 assists (Miller 172-173 42 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 90 (Osborne 20, Kleffman 16, Miller 15, Maddie Sandvig 13, Withers 12).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central 5 solo 2 assists (Amelia Rife 2 solo 1 assist, Miller 1 solo 1 assist, Withers 1 assist, Burckhard 1 assist).

Records: Aberdeen Central 3-1; Huron 3-3.