Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: St. Edmond's Eden Horn meets Addie Waldorf of Humboldt at the net on Thursday night in the Gael gym. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

The fifth-ranked (Class 3A) Humboldt volleyball team put the finishing touches on a perfect North Central Conference slate here Thursday night versus St. Edmond.

Scores were 25-16, 25-8 and 25-12.

The Wildcats (28-6 overall, 7-0 in the league) did not drop a set in the conference, matching the same accomplishment achieved in 2021 under head coach Kara Waldorf, who returned for her second stint at the helm for this season.

“It’s been a pleasure to be back coaching,” Waldorf said. “Taking every set in every match in the NCC — that’s a super-big accomplishment. To be able to come out and not have a bad set or anything is pretty cool.”

Humboldt won 29 matches in 2021, reaching a 4A regional final before falling to Waverly-Shell Rock. They also won 33 matches under Waldorf in 2020 when they qualified for state.

Mia Schulter led the Wildcats with 11 kills and three blocks, Kendall Works and Adelynn Goodell each had nine kills, and Addie Waldorf recorded 32 assists. As a team, Humboldt tallied eight aces.

“I feel like we played well,” Waldorf said. “There were a lot of errors, but we’ve worked hard to just wipe it clean if you have one and just move on.”

The Wildcats will now prepare for the start of regional play, as they host Charles City on Tuesday in a Region 5 quarterfinal. The winner of that gets either New Hampton or Iowa Falls-Alden.

For the Gaels (8-16, 2-5), they honored eight seniors before the match: Madelyn Davis, Anna Lursen, Faith Shirbroun, Ava Underberg, Ava Andrew, Maggie Flaherty, Brianna Saathoff and Addisyn Schmitz.

Underberg had a team-high three kills. Andrew recorded three aces.

“Humboldt is a very good team but I thought we did a nice job of not being intimidated by them,” SEHS head coach Lindsay Heffernan said. “I thought our defense was strong. Chloe Palmer did a great job in the back and our block was very solid all night.

“Facing an opponent like (the Wildcats) shows you where you need to get better. We will definitely learn from this match and be ready next week for the start of regionals.”

Before postseason starts, St. Edmond will head to Algona this Saturday for tournament action. They return home to host Colo-Nesco in a 1A, Region 8 opener on Monday at 7 p.m.