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LYNX SPIKERS SPLIT FOUR MATCHES AT GARRIGAN TOURNEY

WCHS sweeps Garrigan, SEV; falls to Poky and A-P

ALGONA — There were bright moments, but also plenty of teachable moments for the Webster City volleyball team at Saturday’s Algona Garrigan tournament.

The Lynx split the difference with a 2-2 record that moved them to 3-4 on the season.

WCHS claimed 2-0 sweeps over Garrigan (21-15, 21-14) and Southeast Valley (21-19, 22-20), but got swept by Pocahontas Area (21-18, 21-17) and Aplington-Parkersburg (21-6, 21-17).

Outside of the opening set against A-P in which the Falcons jumped out to a 9-0 cushion, the Lynx were competitive throughout the day and head coach Jess Howard credited the team’s improved serve receive.

“I thought our serve receive really improved from our first night out,” she said. “The girls did a good job of starting out more aggressively.”

Offensive consistency at the net will continue to be a recurring theme, however. WCHS had a negative kill efficiency (-.050) on the day with more errors (57) than kills (48).

“We need to keep working on that,” Howard said. “We just have to make sure we’re not swinging the same way all the time. If we get that consistency, then we’re going to be able to stay in games and stay in them to win. It’s just a matter of learning the speed that you’ve got to play with.”

Alayna Finucan and Sierra Rattenborg led WCHS up front with 12 kills each. Joslin Gourley added seven and Faith Anderson finished the day with six.

Gourley also handed out a team-high 21 assists.

“Joslin did a good job of getting after it and really came out with some aggressive swings,” Howard said. “She showed herself what she’s capable of.”

Defensively, Lexi Nichols collected 10 blocks and Finucan made a team-high 28 digs. Jenna Miller and Kelly Stoakes both finished with 22 digs, and Leah Kasch chipped in 16 more.

Stoakes put on the libero jersey for the day and was solid, Howard said.

“Stoakes and Kasch did a good job in the back row,” she said. “Their serve receive really helped get us going, and Lexi had some pretty good blocks for us.”

Finucan smacked a team-high five service aces. Miller (3), Alley Odland (2) and Fallon Casey (2) all had multiple aces as well.

WCHS will make its home debut on Thursday when it opens up North Central Conference play against third-ranked (Class 3A) and league favorite Clarion-Goldfield-Dows at 7:30 p.m.

Algona Garrigan Tournament

Saturday at Algona

Webster City Statistics

(4 matches combined)

Attacks — Alayna Finucan 32-43, 12 kills; Sierra Rattenborg 33-51, 12 kills; Joslin Gourley 17-24, 7 kills; Faith Anderson 14-23, 6 kills; Reese Casey 15-25, 6 kills; Lexi Nichols 9-11, 4 kills; Jenna Miller 2-2, 1 kill.

Blocks — Nichols 10, Rattenborg 5, Gourley 3, R. Casey 3, Finucan 21⁄2, Anderson 21⁄2.

Digs — Finucan 28, Miller 22, Kelly Stoakes 22, Leah Kasch 16, Alley Odland 12, Rattenborg 11, Gourley 8, Anderson 4, Nichols 2, Fallon Casey 2.

Assists — Gourley 21, Miller 18, Finucan 1, Odland 1.

Serving — Finucan 21-22, 5 aces; Miller 19-19, 3 aces; Odland 24-24, 2 aces; F. Casey 12-17, 2 aces; Kasch 27-27, 1 ace; Gourley 21-23, 1 ace.

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