After letting the North Central Conference opener get away from them last week, the St. Edmond volleyball team made sure to put the hammer down here Thursday night when they got the chance.

Freshman Eden Horn put down the final three kills to end the match in favor of the Gaels over Iowa Falls-Alden inside a boisterous SEHS gym.

Scores were 25-22, 25-20 and 26-24.

“We played free and more relaxed compared to (vs. Hampton-Dumont/CAL),” SEHS head coach Heather Seeden said. “We’ve been telling the girls all week in practice that nobody is going to be upset with a mistake if you come back and continue to be aggressive.

“I felt like we did a really good job of that.”

Ava Underberg tallied a match-high 13 kills as Horn added nine and Faith Shirbroun recorded six. Shirbroun, Ava Andrew, Abby Huss and Ella Vandi each had two aces, as Underberg and Horn both registered two blocks each for St. Edmond (4-4 overall, 1-1 in league).

Carlea Dagel led the Cadets (4-6, 1-1) with 12 kills and four blocks as Leah Allen had seven kills.

The Gaels used a 7-1 run in the middle of the opening set to gain control, finishing things off with the final three points after Iowa Falls-Alden rallied to tie it at 22-all. Huss had the set-winning point on a kill.

In the second, the Cadets came out strong, going up 13-6 and 16-11 before St. Edmond answered. The Gaels scored nine straight and 13 of 15 to go from down five to up five, as Underberg had back-to-back kills and Chloe Palmer finished it off with a kill.

St. Edmond scored the final three points in each set with seven of the nine points coming on kills.

“It was great to see us finish it off,” Seeden said. “After last week, I really didn’t want to see a fourth set.

“We made a few adjustments during the match and I thought they really gave us a spark when we needed it. The girls rallied and fed off the great energy all night.”

Huss tallied five kills and Palmer added three, as the Gaels committed just five service errors while recording nine aces.

St. Edmond has now swept Iowa Falls-Alden each of the last three years after losing 15 straight from 2007-2022.

After playing the first eight matches at home, the Gaels hit the road until October, starting with a trip to Eagle Grove on Monday.