SIOUX FALLS – Aberdeen Central’s strong presence at the service line wasn’t enough to hold back the comeback from Brandon Valley.

Central got off to a solid start before Brandon Valley stormed back to win the five-set battle 23-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-13 in the seventh-place match during the Class AA State Volleyball Tournament Saturday morning at the Sanford Premier Center.

“We just executed our plays, and then Brandon really gained some traction in the third and they started executing their plays,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “It’s a tough one to lose, but I thought our kids competed really well today.”

Execution was at its highest in the first two sets, especially at the service line. The Golden Eagles served up eight aces in the first two sets, six of which came from senior Kennedy Osborne.

“I really like serving. And getting those aces and just like getting the teams out of system can cause a team to make errors,” said Osborne. “It gives our team a lot of motivation.”

Central ended with 17 aces on the day, 10 by Osborne.

The Golden Eagles knew that efficiency at the service line would be a key to the match.

“We knew that we could serve well against them and get them out of system a little bit,” Bindenagel said. “And as the match went on, their serve receive improved and we missed a few more serves.”

In an emotional game, where the momentum was swaying back and forth between sides, the Golden Eagles looked to Lauryn Burckhard, a sophomore who has been in the state tournament before.

“I just have varsity experience, and state experience, more than a lot of the people,” said Burckhard. “So, I feel like I just kind of lead out there.”

With the fifth set being only 15 points, the Golden Eagles were aware that they had no room for mistakes. A kill from Burckhard, an ace from Osborne helped the Golden Eagles regain their energy.

“It’s hard in the fifth set, ‘cause you don’t have a lot of time to get it,” Osborne said. “It’s hard coming off of two loss sets to try and have energy for that last set, but we tried our best.”

Finding momentum can be tough going into the fifth after dropping back-to-back sets, but the Golden Eagles found a way to battle.

“It’s been a long weekend, they were tired. But I thought they did a really good job of emotionally sticking in there,” said Bindenagel. “We were down, what, 7-10 and came back. So, I thought they fought really hard today, but when we needed a point or two, it didn’t quite go our way.”

Central responded with four straight points to take an 11-10 lead, but the Lynx went on a surge of their own to record the reverse sweep.

The Golden Eagles entered the tourney as the eighth seed with no pressure, just wanting to finish the season out on the right note.

“We came in with nothing to lose,” Burckhard said. “We were going out for our three seniors that we had, and just play as best as we can.”

The match was the final one for Osborne.

“It was amazing,” Osborne said of playing for the Golden Eagles. “The girls are great, they have so much energy, and are very supportive. I love playing with them.”

Although the Golden Eagles are losing Osborne, Maddie Sandvig, and Abigail DeVries, they will return many key players that make Bindenagel optimistic about next season.

“We got a lot of pieces coming back, and we say goodbye to some nice seniors,” said Bindenagel. “We’ll miss them, but yeah, we got a good group coming back.”

Serving: Brandon Valley 7 aces (Logan McGuire 3, Mya VanWestern 2, Jayaunna Stroh 1, Braylyn Miller 1); Aberdeen Central 17 aces (Kennedy Osbourne 10, Abigail DeVries 3, Taylin Kleffman 2).

Hitting: Brandon Valley 63 kills (Stroh 19, Kennedi Boomsma 16, Abby Gruber 13); Aberdeen Central 44 kills (Lauryn Burckhard 14, Kenadi Withers 13, Kamdyn Borge 12).

Setting: Brandon Valley 57 assists (Riya Sheley 30, McGuire 22); Aberdeen Central 43 assists (Alivia Miller 33).

Digs: Brandon Valley 101 (VanWestern 30, Stroh 21, Jayna James 13); Aberdeen Central 94 (Kleffman 24, Miller 19, Withers 19).

Blocks: Brandon Valley 1 solo 12 assists (Stroh 1 solo, Gruber 5 assists, Sheley 4 assists); Aberdeen Central 8 assists (Amelia Rife 3 assists, Burckhard 2 assists, Borge 1 assists, Karlie Nieman 1 assist).

Records: Brandon Valley 18-13; Aberdeen Central 13-11.