Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Josie Huss of St. Edmond hits the ball over the net in the Gael gym.

The St. Edmond volleyball team opens postseason play in familiar surroundings Tuesday night.

The Gaels (8-19 overall) host AGWSR (10-15) in a Class 1A, Region 5 first round contest inside the SEHS gym. Action begins at 7 p.m.

The winner faces either 11th-ranked Gladbrook-Reinbeck (24-8) or Meskwaki Settlement (2-19) next Monday in the quarterfinals.

As always, St. Edmond has been tested this year playing in the 3A and 2A dominated North Central Conference.

The Gaels have faced off against the likes of No. 7 (2A) Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, who won the regular season league title, Humboldt, Webster City and Algona.

Senior Josie Huss leads the team with 164 kills on the year. She is also serving at a 94 percent clip with 16 aces and 161 digs.

For her career, Huss has 442 kills, 113 aces and 498 digs.

Cambrie McBride, another senior, has 146 career kills, 42 aces and 248 digs. She has 79 kills on the season, which is second on the team.

Sophomore Mya McClain leads SEHS with 170 digs and senior Milena Naughton is tops in assists with 199. Kierstin Clark, a 10th-grader, has 194 assists, 73 digs and a team-high 24 aces.

Sydney Engels and Leah Neverman, both juniors, each have 62 kills. Classmate Kacey Kruthoff has 47, as does senior Isabel Woodhouse.

A freshman leads the Cougars in kills, as Brynn Smith has recorded 191. Taylor Sperfslage and Alyssa Hames each had 102, while softball standouts Makenna Kuper and Rachel Sicard have 79 and 69 kills, respectively.

On the bottom part of the bracket will be first round matches between Bishop Garrigan (17-11) and West Bend-Mallard (10-20) and North Iowa (19-12) and Graettinger-Terril (2-27). Those winners meet in Algona, with the quarterfinal winners advancing to Webster City.

Third-ranked Janesville (30-11) is on the top part of the regional.