The Northampton boys volleyball team began their season by remembering their late middle school coach, Jess Finlayson who lost her battle with cancer in January. Finlayson was also the girls varsity volleyball coach and a middle school teacher.

The team sported warmup shirts with a design by senior captain Kody Whiteman that honored her fighting spirit and presented one to Finlayson’s mother who was in attendance.

Following a moment of silence, the K-Kids got down to the business of beating Bethlehem Catholic 25-10, 25-10, 25-15.

Northampton jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first set and never looked back. It only took one complete rotation to finish off the Golden Hawks.

The second set was just as lopsided as Becahi did not win a point on its own serve until they were already trailing 22-6.

The third set was competitive early with the K-Kids holding only a 10-9 lead halfway through before pulling away.

The statistical leaders for Northampton were Keller Repasch with 18 assists, Jackson Fehnel with 7 kills and 5 digs, Giancarlo Martinez with 6 kills and 3 aces, Whiteman with 7 digs, and Alex Schoenen with 5 kills.

While head coach Susie Arndt was pleased with the win, she noted that the Hawks had only 2 players with previous varsity experience. She rates her team as “a dark horse” in terms of competing for a league or district championship. However, the team goal is to not only qualify for the postseason tournaments, but to earn a seed in the top half of the bracket.

This year’s varsity roster consists of: Seniors Whiteman (captain/Libero) and Bradley Chatenka (OH); Fehnel (captain/OH), Martinez (OH/MB), Duane Miles (MB), Repasch (S), Schoenen (OH/MB), and Austin Shetayh (OH); Sophomore Nolan Yost (OH/S).

Arndt highlighted Fehnel as a player with the potential to earn All-Star recognition.

“He’s on every single serve-receive that we have and he’s passing like crazy,” she said. “He’s turned a corner. He’s matured a lot and he’s become our captain and a strong leader on the court.”

Because of a variety of COVID issues at other schools, the team will not play their second match until Tuesday, April 6 against Freedom.