Submitted photo/Ken Kinne: St. Edmond senior Lauren Gibb returns a shot on Saturday during the Pella Invitational. Gibb was a runner-up on the singles side.

PELLA — The St. Edmond girls tennis team placed second here Saturday at the Pella Invitational led by a runner-up finish from senior Lauren Gibb.

Gibb was second in the singles draw to Pella’s Claire Smock, as the two Top-10 ranked individuals squared off in the finals. Both sets went to a tiebreaker before Smock ultimately prevailed.

Payton Bradley finished fourth in singles, Ava Underberg and Chloe Palmer were sixth, and Ava Andrew and Cambree Lunn placed eighth.

“When the opportunity to play in this tournament came up, the whole team was excited,” SEHS head coach Shawn Neverman said. “It was a great chance to play different teams from around the state.

“To be able to play in Pella, which is the site of the state tournament, was also a little extra incentive to work to get back there.”

The Gaels, who are still unbeaten in duals and ranked in Class 1A, square off with Carroll Kuemper on Monday in Carroll. Meet time is set for 4:30 p.m. St. Edmond then concludes the regular season Tuesday at Hampton-Dumont/CAL, where it will try to clinch a third consecutive North Central Conference title outright.

The Gaels, who are also the two-time reigning NCC tournament champions, will then compete in that event on Wednesday in Webster City.