—Photo by Troy Banning/Daily-Freeman Journal St. Edmond’s Emma Alstott (6) blocks the ball against Webster City as Alyson Nieland goes up as well.

WEBSTER CITY — A Picasso it was not. Then again, it didn’t have to be.

Solid in spurts, particularly late in the first set and throughout the second set, the newly-minted 14th-ranked (Class 4A) Webster City volleyball team rolled to its third consecutive North Central Conference sweep, 3-0, over St. Edmond last night in the WCHS gym.

The Lynx (10-1, 3-0 NCC) were forced to rally in the first and third sets, but breezed through the second en route to the 25-14, 25-8, 25-20 win. WCHS — off to its best start under head coach Jess Howard who is in her 15th season — remained atop the conference standings and won for the ninth consecutive time this season.

“We played well at times, but there are still a lot of spots where we could have done better,” WCHS middle hitter Livia Kasch said after she smacked five of the team’s 24 kills. “But we still did enough to beat them and that’s what matters the most.”

Howard, who collected career win No. 248, sounded like an echo as she followed Kasch. She knows it wasn’t her team’s finest performance of the season, but there were portions of the match where WCHS showcased its talent.

“We played well enough to come out on top and that’s all that really matters in the long run,” Howard said. “The girls did some really good things with our offense and we had spurts of showing the things we can do. We just need to find that consistency factor.”

Lefty Sierra Rattenborg led the Lynx attack on the outside with 11 kills, including five in the opening set that put WCHS in command. Abby Gallentine connected for four, while Reese Casey and Adeline Tesdahl had two each.

WCHS truly hung its hat on defense though with 14 blocks, highlighted by Casey and Gallentine with four each. And back row wizard Alayna Finucan continued to add to her school record digs total with 28 more, 18 more than any other player. Kelly Stoakes also reached double digits with 10.

Joslin Gourley dished out 23 assists, collected six digs and served a team-best five aces. Finucan and Rattenborg had two aces each.

St. Edmond (2-8, 0-2 NCC) seized the early momentum behind a pair of aces from Alyxis Mericle and opened up a 12-7 lead before Howard was able to settle her team down. With Finucan flying from one corner of the court to the other to pop up anything the Gaels sent over the net, WCHS reeled off the next 12 points and 18 of the final 20 to take the set. Stoakes was behind the service line for 11 of the points and Gallentine had a kill and a pair of blocks during the surge.

The dominance transferred over to the second set, as WCHS led 20-2 before St. Edmond even had a chance to catch its breath. Gourley gave the Gaels fits with her serves, as she upped the Lynx run to 38-4 over the first and second sets.

St. Edmond finally scored on something other than a WCHS serving error to make it 20-3.

The Gaels showed no quit though. Despite the second-set onslaught and a quick 7-1 deficit in the third, the visitors rattled off 10 of the next 11 points to jump in front. St. Edmond eventually pushed the margin to 16-11 before WCHS mounted its final comeback. Back-to-back Rattenborg blasts put WCHS back in front, 18-16, and they were part of an 11-0 run that sent the Lynx on to the sweep.

“It was that first home game and there were some jitters,” Finucan admitted. “But we were just so excited to play at home that we had some other things on our mind. But maybe we learned some things from this.”

Following Saturday’s trip north to take part in the Forest City tournament, WCHS will return home on Tuesday for its biggest match of the season against Humboldt. The two current front runners for the league crown, the winner will hold the decided edge entering the second half of the season.