Aberdeen Central capped off a solid day of tennis by defeating Watertown 8-1 during its home opening matches of the season at the Holgate Courts on Thursday.

The Golden Eagles fell to perennial power Sioux Falls Lincoln 9-0 to start the day, but also performed well in that dual, according to Central coach Trent Kurtz.

“Really good day. I thought even against Lincoln, I told people they’ve won 10 consecutive state titles, this is the most competitive we’ve been against them,” Kurtz said. “We lost all the matches, but we had competitive sets, competitive games, competitive matches.”

The Golden Eagles capped off the day by taking down the Arrows.

“And then played really well against Watertown,” Kurtz said, “so getting eight of nine against them was awesome.”

Included in the victory over the Arrows were three tiebreaker wins in four opportunities, something Central has had issues with lately.

“We’ve struggled this year and even last year with tiebreaks, with deuce points, that kind of stuff,” Kurtz said. “Credit to our kids for just being mentally tough and winning those. It helps that we had six matches under our belt before today, so we kind of have some match toughness in there.”

In each instance, the Golden Eagles lost the first set before fighting back to win the second set and then claiming the tiebreaker.

“The other day, I talked to them, we were frustrated with how we responded after we lost a set, and you look up and down the matches today, we lost a lot of first sets and then came back and won the second set,” Kurtz said. “Credit to those guys. They didn’t pout, they didn’t get down on themselves when they lost the first set, they just battled back.”

Nobody was a better example of that than Aric Tennant, who won a doubles match and then pulled out a singles match, both in tiebreaking fashion.

“I think I just play harder in the second set whenever I have one,” said Tennant, known for his marathon matches. “I save some energy in the first set and then if I lose that I just put it all into the last set.”

He and partner Mika Dannen pulled out a 12-10 tiebreaker win at flight three doubles.

“Me and Mika were just playing well during the second half,” Tennant said. “That’s pretty much all there was to it.”

Tennant, who estimated that he spent eight hours on the court between the two duals, then had a long, grueling singles match.

“Really proud of how tough he was down the stretch, because that singles match against Watertown, he didn’t have anything left in the tank,” Kurtz said. “He was up 5-2 in the first set and lost, was up 5-1 in the second set and lost three in a row to get back to 5-4, so you know he was thinking let’s not do this again. He pulls that one off and he doesn’t have much left, and he pulls off a tiebreak win. Great finish to the day.”

Tennant talked about his come-from-behind singles victory.

“He was playing really well, but I just tried keeping it really consistent,” Tennant said. “That’s what I try to do, that’s pretty much my entire game.”

A big key to his win was his mental toughness. Tennant said he tries to stay positive throughout his matches.

“You just have to clear your mind. I think I’m pretty good about keeping an open mind about things,” Tennant said. “I try being the nicest person on the court whenever I play.”

Interestingly enough, Tennant said he finds it a bit tougher playing at home than on the road.

“I feel like it’s a lot harder to stay competitive when you’re at home,” Tennant said. “It feels a lot more like practice rather than anything else.”

Against Watertown, Central also received singles wins from AJ Prehn, Mason Ligon, Dawson Pederson, and Gustavo Carrara, and doubles victories from Prehn and Carrara, and Pederson and Ligon.

Central plays at Brandon Valley and O’Gorman on Monday, before road matches against Mitchell and Huron on Thursday.

Kurtz was pleased with his players’ improvement from earlier this week when it comes to mental toughness.

“I’m not saying we went from needing mental toughness to being mental tough in two days,” Kurtz said, “but we took a big jump since Tuesday, so I’m really happy for that.”

Sioux Falls Lincoln 9, Aberdeen 0

SINGLES

River McKenzie, SFL, def. AJ Prehn, 6-2, 6-2.

Connor Huser, SFL, def. Mason Ligon, 6-2, 6-3.

Jacob Husser, SFL, def. Dawson Pederson, 6-1, 6-1.

Chris Tao, SFL, def. Gustavo Carrara, 6-3, 6-2.

Simeon Seruyange, SFL, def. Aric Tennant, 6-4, 6-1.

Amrit Thury, SFL, def. Gannon Pederson, 6-3, 6-0.

DOUBLES

McKenzie-C. Husser, SFL, def. Prehn-Carrara, 6-2, 6-2.

J. Husser-Tao, SFL, def. D. Pederson-Ligon, 6-2, 6-3.

Seruyange-Thury, SFL, def. Tennant-Mika Dannen, 6-2, 6-4.

Aberdeen Central 8, Watertown 1

SINGLES

AJ Prehn, AC, def. Skyler Stanton, 6-3, 6-1.

Mason Ligon, AC, def. Joey Meester, 6-3, 6-4.

Dawson Pederson, AC, def Matthew Bertsch, 6-2, 6-2.

Gustavo Carrara, AC, def. Xane Fligge, 6-1, 6-1.

Aric Tennant, AC, def. Dawson Hartman, 5-7, 6-4 (13-11).

Sam Karst, W, def. Gannon Pederson, 3-6, 7-5 (10-4).

DOUBLES

Prehn-Carrara, AC, def. Stanton-Meester, 6-1, 7-5.

D. Pederson-Ligon, AC, def. Bertsch-Figge, 0-6, 6-4 (10-2).

Tennant-Mika Dannen, AC, def. Hartman-Karst, 2-6, 6-4 (12-10).