The Northampton boys volleyball team has shrugged off their loss to Parkland two weeks ago by sweeping their next four matches without dropping a single set. Of those matches, Monday’s contest against Southern Lehigh figured to be the most challenging as the Spartans sported a 10-1 record on the season. However, the K-Kids dispatched the Spartans with relative ease 25-18, 25-16, 25-22.

The only time Northampton trailed in the first two sets was at 4-5 in the first. The Kids dominated at the net, rejecting several Spartan attacks. Head coach Sue Arndt explained that was no coincidence.

“We’ve been working really hard on blocking,” she said. “We changed our blocking scheme. That’s helped us a lot. You could see it tonight. It’s more of a zone block.”

In the third set, Southern Lehigh got out to a 13-9 lead. From that point on, the Kids kept the Spartans from scoring a single point on their own serve for the rest of the set. Alex Schoenen ended the match in style with an ace.

Schoenen led Northampton with 12 kills. Jackson Fehnel was tops in digs with 18 and added 10 kills of his own. Johnny Martinez had 7 kills, 13 digs, and 4 blocks. Duane Milnes had 12 digs and 6 kills. Landon Nickischer added 7 kills. Setter Keller Repasch had 33 assists.

Repasch explained his process of distributing the ball to his teammates.

“Usually you go off of who’s hot and who’s not,” he said. “You also try to go where the other team thinks you’re not going to go, try and trick them a little bit. If I see they’re keying on one person, I’ll give the ball to someone else. We’ve got a bunch of big guys, good hitters that can get the ball down and I try to get it to them as best I can.”

Northampton is now 9-1 on the season has secured a district playoff berth.

Thursday, the Kids travel to Nazareth to take on a 6-4 Blue Eagles’ squad in the midst of 4-match losing streak. On Friday, Emmaus comes to Pete Schneider Gymnasium. Northampton and the Hornets currently hold down the second and third spots in the District XI 3A rankings behind undefeated Whitehall. The K-Kids defeated Emmaus 2 sets to 1 at the Rover Invitational early in the season, although that result does not factor into the district or EPC standings.

If you’ve never watched high-level high school volleyball, this would be a great opportunity. There is no admission charge to the 6 p.m. event.