Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: The St. Edmond girls tennis team celebrates its third consecutive North Central Conference tournament title on Wednesday in Webster City. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

WEBSTER CITY — For the third year in a row, the St. Edmond girls tennis team laid claim to being queens of the North Central Conference.

The Gaels, who swept the regular season dual title earlier this spring, captured the NCC tournament crown here on Wednesday. It is the third consecutive season that St. Edmond has swept the two.

Lauren Gibb, a senior who will play softball at Iowa Central next year, won her second straight singles championship. Ava Andrew and Cambree Lunn joined her by winning the doubles title.

Payton Bradley was second in singles to Gibb while Ava Underberg and Chloe Palmer placed third in doubles.

The Gaels have not lost a conference dual since April 19, 2022 and have not finished worse than third at the league tournament since it was created that same season.

“Coming into the day as the heavy favorites, I was super nervous about playing to our expectations,” SEHS head coach Shawn Neverman said. “But the girls came to play and took care of business. All of the girls were seeded in the Top-4 in each bracket and with the way they played, they proved why the other coaches believed that we earned those seeds.

“It was very exciting that all of the girls were able to medal as well as bring the trophy home for the third consecutive time. This is a great group of girls who are very driven and have put in the time to get better. I was happy to see all of their hard work pay off.”

Gibb, who topped Lauren Wood of Iowa Falls-Alden in the finals last year for her first individual NCC crown, got to square off with her senior classmate Bradley in the finals.

“It feels great to be able to accomplish something like this,” Gibb said. “I played some great people. I stayed patient and played the game I know I can play.

“This definitely gives me a lot of confidence going forward to Monday, because if I stay consistent and patient, hopefully all will go well.”

Gibb, also the NCC runner-up as a sophomore, dropped just one game all day, posting two 8-0 wins and an 8-1 victory. Bradley knocked off No. 2 seed Olivia Gallentine in the semifinals, 8-5.

“Lauren has been the model of consistency during her tennis career,” Neverman said. “Many coaches have commented that Lauren does not beat herself; she frustrates them with her consistency and patience.”

Bradley, who avenged a prior loss to reach the finals, “showed how much she has worked to improve,” Neverman added.

Lunn, a senior, and juniors Andrew and Underberg have all played key roles in each of the past three NCC championship runs. Lunn and Andrew, the No. 1 seeds, topped Webster City’s Allie Severe and Alivia Burns in the finals, 6-2, 6-3.

“Cambree and Ava played excellent tennis all day long,” Neverman said. “Ava and Chloe really showed that we will be able to count on them, along with Ava (Andrew) next year to replace the seniors we have in our lineup.”

Morgan Hackbarth topped teammate Gallentine for third place.

“I want to congratulate Coach Neverman and St. Edmond on a great tournament,” WCHS head coach Mark Fisher said. “They have a great team and played sensational tennis. They played terrific in big moments.

“I was extremely proud of the way we performed. I thought we played some of our best tennis of the season at times.”

The Gaels will play Carroll Kuemper in a makeup dual on Friday before preparing for a Class 1A individual tournament on Monday in Spencer. Joining St. Edmond will be Webster City, Cherokee, Estherville-LC, Le Mars, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, Spencer, Spirit Lake and Storm Lake.

Winners and runners-up in singles and doubles qualify for the state tournament.