WCHS head volleyball coach Jess Howard walks the sideline during a match against Clarion-Goldfield-Dows earlier this season. Howard collected win No. 250 in her 15-year career at Saturday’s Forest City Invite. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

FOREST CITY — The number is more than just a statistical milestone for Webster City head volleyball coach Jess Howard. For her, it’s a chance to reflect on all of the good things she’s been able to accomplish and the on-court success is only a small portion of that.

In her 15th season in charge of the program, Howard captured her 250th career victory at Saturday’s Forest City Invite, as 14th-ranked (Class 4A) WCHS picked up a pair of wins in five matches.

And that’s when Howard was able to reflect.

“It’s not so much the number, it’s just the kids that have gone through the system,” Howard said. “That number tells me that I’ve impacted a lot of kids’ lives and that means the most to me. I’ve been able to teach a lot of kids about hard work and how not to expect things to be handed to them, and I’ve helped a lot of kids become successful adults after they’ve left here. That means the most.”

Howard’s milestone moment came in a 2-0 win over North Central Conference rival Clear Lake (21-9, 22-20) at the midpoint of the long tournament. The Lynx (12-4 overall) knocked off Mason City Newman 2-0 (21-5, 21-14) earlier.

WCHS opened its day with a 2-1 loss to Lake Mills (19-21, 21-16, 15-5) and then ended the tournament with back-to-back 2-0 losses to Roland-Story (21-18, 21-16) and Forest City (21-18, 21-16), both of which were close throughout.

“We knew it was going to be tough competition in some of the matches and we knew we were going to have to compete really well,” Howard said. “They were tight matches and we had our opportunities, and I thought we did a lot of really good things and were able to work on a lot of things on offense. We’re just trying to fine-tune it into one package.”

Howard was particularly pleased with her back row, led once again by senior libero Alayna Finucan with 58 digs on the day. Kelly Stoakes piled up 30, Joslin Gourley came away with 27 and Sierra Rattenborg 24. Seven girls finished with double-digit digs.

“It gave us a lot of opportunities to play defense and our defensive players did a great job of popping balls up,” Howard said. “Offensively, (setter) Joslin (Gourley) did a good job of finding our hitters and making sure we moved the ball around.”

Gourley distributed 84 of the team’s 92 assists.

WCHS hit .186 with 93 kills on the day. Sierra Rattenborg smashed a team-best 41 kills on the outside, while Reese Casey was potent in the middle with 22 kills. Fellow middles Livia Kasch and Abby Gallentine added 12 and 10 kills, respectively.

Casey was the most efficient attacker, as she hit .389. Casey made just one error in 54 swings.

“For the most part we were pretty efficient, we jut can’t get discouraged when a team scores a couple of points in a row,” Howard said. “Our middles did a great job of pulling blockers to them and that’s been something we’ve focused on.”

Gourley, Kasch and Rattenborg all cranked out four service aces, and Finucan added three more in the tournament.

WCHS (3-0 NCC) will shift its focus back to league play on Tuesday when it hosts Humboldt (18-4, 2-0 NCC) at 7:30 p.m. The winner will hold the upper-hand in the race for the conference championship.

Forest City Invite

Saturday at Forest City

Webster City Statistics

(5 matches combined)

Attacks — Sierra Rattenborg 93-112, 41 kills; Reese Casey 53-54, 22 kills; Livia Kasch 53-63, 12 kills; Abby Gallentine 22-24, 10 kills; Joslin Gourley 5-6, 4 kills; Delainey Bargfrede 15-15, 2 kills; Alayna Finucan 6-6, 1 kill; Adeline Tesdahl 6-8, 1 kill; Alley Odland 5-8.

Blocks — Casey 51⁄2, Gallentine 4, Kasch 2, Gourley 1, Bargfrede 1⁄2.

Assists — Gourley 84, Finucan 3, Rattenborg 2, Kasch 2, Bargfrede 1.

Digs — Finucan 58, Kelly Stoakes 30, Gourley 27, Rattenborg 24, Odland 15, Cloe Savitski 13, Kasch 12, Casey 1, Gallentine 1, Bonnie Nohrenberg 1.

Serving — Rattenborg 25-27, 4 aces; Gourley 26-29, 4 aces; Kasch 32-35, 4 aces; Finucan 34-36, 3 aces; Casey 32-36; Stoakes 16-16; Bargfrede 2-3.