HUBBARD — The Webster City volleyball team beat a pair of Heart of Iowa Conference programs and finished 2-3 on Saturday at the South Hardin Invite.

The Lynx swept two sets from Greene County (21-13, 21-16) and rallied from an early deficit to take down Saydel in three sets (16-21, 21-18, 15-2). They dropped 2-0 decisions to 11th-ranked (Class 1A) Gladbrook-Reinbeck (21-14, 21-14) and No. 9 (1A) Edgewood-Colesburg (23-21, 21-19), as well as against Boone (21-11, 21-19).

Head coach Jess Howard saw plenty of positives, and was particularly pleased with how her team challenged Edgewood-Colesburg in its final match of the day.

“You could see that the girls were maturing and starting to get a flow for how they should play within each of our rotations as the day went on,” she said. “Our back row was really good with serve receive and they gave us a lot of opportunities to run our offense. It’s a major improvement from the beginning of the season.”

Having junior Alayna Finucan back at libero has strengthened the back row. She came up with a team-high 43 digs on the day and also slapped five service aces, four of them coming in the win over Saydel.

“She does a great job of reading hitters and getting her body in position to make a lot of those passes look easy,” Howard said of Finucan.

WCHS (6-8) hit .179 as a team with 72 kills in 208 chances. Faith Anderson hit at a .271 clip, tops on the team, with 19 kills. Sierra Rattenborg laced 23 kills and finished with a .246 efficiency.

“Faith did really well at the net, she was really strong,” Howard said. “She had a couple of the best hits I’ve ever seen her have.”

Lexi Nichols cranked out 13 kills, Reese Casey had six, and both Joslin Gourley and Livia Kasch finished with five. Gourley distributed 46 assists, and piled up 22 digs and six aces. Kelly Stoakes (21) and Leah Kasch (20) also reached the 20-dig plateau.

WCHS will make the short trek to Fort Dodge on Thursday to take on St. Edmond in a North Central Conference match at 7:30 p.m.

South Hardin Invite

Saturday at Hubbard

Webster City Statistics

Attacks — Sierra Rattenborg 53-61, 23 kills; Faith Anderson 42-48, 19 kills; Lexi Nichols 16-21, 13 kills; Reese Casey 18-24, 6 kills; Livia Kasch 26-29, 5 kills; Joslin Gourley 15-21, 5 kills; Alayna Finucan 1-2, 1 kill; Kelly Stoakes 1-1; Jenna Miller 1-1.

Blocks — Casey 31⁄2, Nichols 31⁄2, Anderson 1, Liv. Kasch 1.

Digs — Finucan 43, Gourley 22, Stoakes 21, Leah Kasch 20, Miller 15, Rattenborg 7, Alley Odland 7, Anderson 4, Liv. Kasch 1, Nichols 1, Casey 1.

Assists — Gourley 46, Miller 18, Finucan 6, Rattenborg 1.

Serving — Gourley 39-42, 6 aces; Finucan 41-43, 5 aces; Stoakes 25-26, 4 aces; Miller 19-20, 2 aces; Lea. Kasch 31-35, 2 aces; Odland 19-23, 2 aces; Rattenborg 2-3.