BRANDON – Aberdeen Central had some chances on Monday, but the Golden Eagles couldn’t quite finish the deal.

Central fell in tennis twice, losing to Brandon Valley 7-2 and to O’Gorman 9-0.

While the Golden Eagles won a pair of matches against BV, the dual could have been much closer.

“We had three great doubles,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz. “Kind of unfortunate to only come out with one of those three.”

The team of Aric Tennant and Mika Dannen won the final three games to pull out their match at flight three 10-8.

“Aric and Mika played really well, especially down the stretch,” Kurtz said.

Kurtz noted that the flight two doubles team trailed by three games for the majority of the match, “and kind of got it back and made it interesting right there at the end.”

Kurtz said Central’s top flight doubles played extremely well and had three match points before finally succumbing at the finish.

“One doubles played great. Brandon Valley’s got a really good one doubles team and we had all the chances we could have hoped for,” Kurtz said. “We had a match point at 9-7 and we had two match points at 9-8, 40-30.”

He said the BV squad just rose to the occasion.

“We didn’t lose it. They hit a great top-spin lob right on the line for a winner on one of them. We got in a really good, kind of net-war point for another one. Just came out on the short end,” Kurtz said. “Credit to them for making the plays.”

The other win for Central came at flight four singles where Gustavo Carrara overcame a slow start to record a victory.

“Good win for Gustavo,” Kurtz said. “He got down 5-1 and then just kind of rolled. He won seven in a row to get up 8-5 and closed it out.”

While Central continues to play well in doubles, Kurtz said there is one area that needs some work.

“Doubles is going really well again right now. We’re playing really well there. We got to serve it a little better. I think that’s the biggest takeaway of the day,” Kurtz said. “Way too many double faults. Just lived on our second serve too much in doubles and singles, but second serves really hurt you in doubles. We’ve got to put some time and kind of work on some of our serving.”

Like everybody else so far, Central struggled against O’Gorman, which is undefeated on the season.

“OG is really good,” Kurtz said. “They’re right there with Lincoln and that’s probably the top two contenders to Harrisburg, sounds like. They’ve only lost one actual match all year so far.”

Central heads to Huron on Thursday to face Eastern South Dakota Conference foes Mitchell and Huron. Kurtz is looking forward to seeing how the Golden Eagles compare with fellow conference teams.

“That’s always the first goal we have,” Kurtz said. “The first thing I look forward to every year is where we stack up in the ESD, so this will be a good test.”

Brandon Valley 7, Aberdeen Central 2

SINGLES

Eli Woidyla, BV, def. AJ Prehn, 10-1.

Will Jensen, BV, def. Mason Ligon, 10-3.

Gavin Stone, BV, def. Dawson Pederson, 10-9 (7-1).

Gustavo Carrara, AC, def. Ryley McKeown, 10-6.

Sanders Anshutz, BV, def. Aric Tennant, 10-4.

Titan Gross, BV, def. Gannon Pederson, 10-3.

DOUBLES

Woidyla-Jensen, BV, def. Prehn-Carrara, 10-9 (7-1).

Stone-McKeown, BV, def. D. Pederson-Ligon, 10-8.

Tennant-Mika Dannen, AC, def. Anshutz-Gross, 10-8.

O’Gorman 9, Aberdeen Central 0

SINGLES

Will Kozaira, OG, def. AJ Prehn, 8-1.

Johnny McDowell, OG, def. Mason Ligon, 8-1.

August Jackson OG, def. Dawson Pederson, 8-3.

Ben Pekas, OG, def. Gustavo Carrara, 8-3.

Finn Canfield, OG, def. Aric Tennant, 8-2.

Reid Oakland, OG, def. Gannon Pederson, 8-3.

DOUBLES

Kozaira-McDowell, OG, def. Prehn-Carrara, 8-1.

Jackson-Canfield, OG, def. D. Pederson-Ligon, 8-2.

Pekas-Oakland, OG, def. Tennant-Mika Dannen, 8-4.