Playing without one of their leaders, the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles found strength in each other Tuesday night.

Fifth-rated Central used a balanced attack to sweep past Mitchell 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 in Eastern South Dakota Conference volleyball action at Golden Eagles Arena.

With Grace Kuch sidelined with a knee injury, the rest of the team rose to the challenge to help fill void.

“With Grace, we’re just going to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” said Central coach Jackie Bindenagel. “But in the meantime, we just talked about if everybody just picks up a couple more here and there, then that at least replaces her numbers. Kids are hard to replace on the court and we’re going to miss her, but we talk about team all the time and it’s for reasons like this.”

Having Kuch out of the lineup impacts more than just a hitter or two along the frontline, according to Central middle hitter Ashley Wangler.

“It definitely changed a lot of our lineup options, so Taryn Nieman is now serving, and we just had to figure some different stuff out at practice,” Wangler said. “It’s definitely affected everybody, not just the outsides, but the middles, the right sides, the setters, everybody.”

One of the players who helped to pick up the slack was Kenadi Withers. The sophomore repeatedly found cross-court angles on the way to leading the Eagles with 10 kills on the night.

Withers said being lefthanded helps her cause when she faces opposing defenses.

“It’s harder for them to block the left hands,” Withers said.

Withers led a balanced hitting attack that saw Lauryn Burckhard collect nine kills, Nieman add seven, and Wangler contribute six.

“I’m just proud of my team and how we did,” Withers said, “and how everybody stepped up.”

Central set the tone from the beginning with its aggressive serving. The Golden Eagles pulled away from a 9-8 lead with a 15-6 run in the opening set. The Kernels saved six set points before Central secured the win.

The second set was much closer. While Central still led throughout, Mitchell eventually caught the Eagles and tied the score at 19-19. The hosts used a kill from Withers and an ace from Madison Miller to gain some separation and eventually claimed a two-set advantage.

Central opened up a 5-1 lead to start the third set and played with a cushion the rest of the way to conclude the sweep.

The Eagles finished with seven aces on the evening.

“We knew we needed to serve well at them and I thought our kids did that,” Bindenagel said.

In the end, it was a solid team effort that produced the victory.

“That’s what we wanted to do, because after Grace went down, we made note that it’s not one person that makes the team, we’re all going to do it,” Wangler said. “So we all have to step up and start playing like we want to win.”

The Golden Eagles, 13-7 on the season, are currently in the hunt for a potential home match during the upcoming Class AA SoDak 16. That’s why each match takes on added importance.

“We really want that home playoff game,” Withers said.

Central still has some tough matches ahead to close out the regular season, starting at Pierre on Saturday.

Wangler said the matches feel different now than they did back earlier in the season.

“They’re definitely getting more difficult,” Wangler said, “and we’re just keeping that in mind so we’re ready.”

Bindenagel noted that these late-season matches are important for a variety of reasons.

“All of these matches are huge for points and just for momentum and confidence and all the things you need heading into postseason,” Bindenagel said.

Serving: Aberdeen Central 67-74 7 aces (Ayrlie Waldo 19-19 2 aces, Madison Miller 10-12 2 aces, Taryn Nieman 12-14 2 aces, Sawyer Bahr 11-13 1 ace).

Hitting: Aberdeen Central 88-106 36 kills (Kenadi Withers 19-24 10 kills, Lauryn Burckhard 27-31 9 kills, Taryn Nieman 17-20 7 kills, Ashley Wangler 9-10 6 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Central 95-96 36 assists (Waldo 86-87 32 assists, Bahr 6-6 3 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Central 50 (Bahr 13, Waldo 9, Emma Dohrer 9).

Blocks: Aberdeen Central 2 solo and 2 assists (Withers 1 solo and 2 assists, Nieman 1 assist).

Records: Mitchell 6-14; Aberdeen Central 13-7.