—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla St. Edmond's Kierstin Clark pushes hits the ball over the net against Webster City on Thursday. For more photos, visit CU.messengernews.net

St. Edmond head coach Dee Huss is grateful for the opportunity her volleyball program has to even play this season.

At the same time, Huss finds it almost hard to believe that they have just five matches under their belt right now.

While the Gaels fell to Webster City here Thursday night, they showed enough battle and improvements to give Huss the confidence that things are progressing in the right direction.

Scores were 25-20, 25-18 and 25-22.

“By this time of the year, we’d typically have played 15-to-20 matches,” Huss said. “I know I’m excited to see us in a tournament this weekend and really make some major strides forward.”

The Lynx (7-8 overall, 1-1 in North Central Conference) stretched their win streak to four in a row over St. Edmond (3-2, 0-2), including 13 wins in the last 17 matches overall.

Sierra Rattenborg had 11 kills and Faith Anderson added nine to lead Webster City, with Joslin Gourley recorded 21 assists and five aces on 18 of 20 serving. Alayna Finucan also had five aces and 10 digs, with Leah Kasch adding eight digs.

For the Gaels, Sydney Engels, Kacey Kruthoff and Alyxis Mericle all had four kills each, with Kierstin Clark and Leah Neverman each recording three. Mya McClain had an ace on perfect 16-for-16 serving.

Aleah Anderson added two aces and two kills.

“Our first touch was much better on both serve and serve-receive,” Huss said. “We’ve been working really hard at improving in those areas. It really allows us to set our defense up and work our offense. We passed the ball well and did a nice job with our block.”

Clark had 15 assists, McClain 10 digs and both Engels and Neverman picked up two blocks each.

The Lynx used a pair of key runs to claim the first and second sets. Anderson had four kills in the first and Rattenborg five in the second.

In the third, St. Edmond had a four-point advantage on two instances, but Webster City again went on a run, scoring six consecutive and 10 of 11 to gain control.

“We knew this would be challenge, but the girls were up for it,” Huss said. “They really embrace these kind of matches. They know what they are capable of and really help each other out on the court.”

Webster City also won the junior varsity (21-6, 21-11) and freshman (21-14, 21-9) matches.

Next action for the Gaels will be Sunday when they head to LeMars for the CYO Tournament. The Lynx are at Forest City this Saturday for a tournament.