Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Faith Shirbroun of St. Edmond tips the ball against Clarion-Goldfield/Dows on Thursday in the Gael gym.

Heather Seeden has no issue with challenging her St. Edmond volleyball team.

Seeden, in her first season as head coach, made sure to let the Gael players know that had lost the last 19 meetings with Clarion-Goldfield/Dows.

She also put them through the grind in practice of working on some key areas.

All that added up to a convincing sweep over the Cowgirls inside the SEHS gym here Thursday night.

Scores were 25-22, 25-13 and 25-20.

“I think when I brought that up in the huddle at the beginning of the game they got a little nervous,” Seeden said. “We knew they had some big blockers and hitters but we were able to put up a pretty good block ourselves, which is something we haven’t really done well this year.

“We’ve been working a lot on blocking and we did it in practice Wednesday.”

Junior Ava Underberg recorded six blocks while senior Lauren Gibb added two for St. Edmond (8-2 overall, 2-1 in North Central Conference). Mariah Myers, a senior, recorded a match-high 13 kills with Underberg registering 10 including the final point of the night.

“I’m so happy and so proud of them because they continue to stay up and stay positive,” Seeden said. “I’m never seeing them drop their body language and that is so important because there are a lot of ups and downs in volleyball.

“We still have areas we need to continue improving on but this was a step in the right direction.”

The 8-2 start is the best after 10 matches played since the 2014 team went 7-3. St. Edmond has recorded three consecutive sweeps and has six wins this year without dropping a set.

Clarion-Goldfield/Dows (3-10, 0-3) put the pressure on early, battling point-for-point while taking a 13-9 lead in the first. From there, the Gaels responded, rallying with a 11-6 run before finishing things off on a 5-1 run highlighted by two kills from Underberg.

The momentum continued in the second, as St. Edmond raced out to a 10-4 lead and held control at 19-11 before scoring the final four points. Sasha Hess, a senior who had four aces on the night, had the set-ending point on an ace.

Underberg continued to cause problems at the net with back-to-back blocks in the third to give the Gaels a 17-9 advantage. A kill by sophomore Chloe Palmer halted a run by the Cowgirls while junior Faith Shirbroun provided two key kills that made it 24-19.

The Gaels are now 6-1 at home this year and are back here Tuesday to host Webster City after taking part in the CYO Tournament hosted by Bishop Garrigan on Saturday.

For Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, Elliot Ennis had eight kills and Blaire Askelsen added four with Claire Kirsten chipping in three.