Southern Lehigh was going to be a difficult team for Northwestern to compete with under any circumstances. But when the Spartans jumped out to big leads early in every set, the Tigers’ task became too much too handle.

Northwestern lost 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-16) in Tuesday’s District 11 Class 3A girls volleyball quarterfinal. The Spartans advanced to take on Bethlehem Catholic in Thursday’s semifinals.

The No. 2 seed Spartans (16-1) pulled ahead 12-2 in the first set, 6-1 in the second set and 12-3 in the final game before the Tigers made a run in each game.

“I told them if we stopped giving them an 8-point lead at the start of these matches they’d be a lot closer at the end,” said Northwestern head coach Mike Maston. “Even that last match, we gave them a big lead and then we came back. They stayed fighting all the way to the end.”

The Tigers closed their 10-point first-set deficit to 14-8 thanks to a 6-2 run that included a kill from Olivia Silfies and an ace from Kylie Nagle. A Brooke Dwane ace and a block from Avrie Zentz kept the Tigers within 17-10 before Southern Lehigh pulled away to take the first set.

The Tigers kept the second set close until midway through. Another block from Zentz and a Silfies kill got the Tigers within a point at 12-11 before the Spartans called a timeout and regrouped to win 13 of the next 14 points.

It took the Tigers a little longer to rally in the third game, where they fell behind by nine points early and still trailed 22-9 before making the Spartans work for the final three points.

“We’re playing very well right now,” said Southern Lehigh head coach Don West. “We’ve seen them twice during the year. We know them very well. A lot of the girls play club together. We were confident coming in that if we played our game we were going to do well. Our lineup and everything is working really well right now.”

The No. 7 seed Tigers (9-10) didn’t have an answer for the Spartans’ three big hitters in Alyssa Adams (8 kills, 4 digs, block), Mallory Hoch (7 kills) and Ta’Niya Pleasant (6 kills). Setter Kendal Cioffi had 22 assists and was effective in the serving game as well.

“We served very well,” said West. “We got them out of system. Kendal Cioffi, when she’s serving she just gets everyone out of system so quick. Offensively, passing was good. Hitting was good. We did everything very well tonight.”