It has been a season of milestones for the Northampton boys volleyball team this year. The magical ride continued on Monday as they knocked off Freedom in 4 sets, 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 27-25, to boost their program-best record to 16-1, 14-1 in the EPC.

The win also clinched a bye into semifinals for the 6-team EPC tournament.

The third set was the first set the team had lost since April 6, a school-record streak of 32 straight winning sets.

The first set offered little in the way of drama as the K-Kids started fast, built a 13-6 lead, and were never seriously threatened.

Midway through the second set, the Patriots clung to a 14-12 lead. Northampton won 10 of the next 15 points to pull ahead. Keller Repasch closed out the set with by stuffing a Freedom kill attempt.

The K-Kids looked like they were going to sweep their 11th match in a row when they bolted to an 8-2 lead out of the gate in the third set. Freedom clawed back to even the set at 14. Northampton led 23-22 late, but the Patriots won the last three points to claim the set.

The final set of the night was agonizing to watch for the K-Kid faithful in attendance. The service error bug swept through the team as they gave Freedom 8 free points. Nevertheless, the team persevered and fought off match points at 24-23 and 25-24. Fittingly, the final points of the match came on the serve of middle blocker Alex Schoenen.

In the second set, Schoenen achieved the 500th kill of his K-Kids’ career, joining teammate Jackson Fehnel in reaching that milestone this season.

Schoenen put the accomplishment in perspective, “It means a lot. I’ve come a long way. Six years of playing volleyball. It was a lot of fun getting here. I was happy to get it.”

Head coach Sue Arndt praised her senior, “I’ve been coaching for 31 years and players like Alex are hard to come by. He loves it. If he could play volleyball and get paid for the rest of his life, he would. He never settles. Throughout my years of coaching, Alex will be in my top 10, or maybe even top 5 most coachable players I’ve ever had.”

For the match, Fehnel and Duane Milnes were tops in both kills and digs for the team. Fehnel went for 12 and 16. Milnes 10 and 12. Johnny Martinez had 9 kills, 10 digs and 3 blocks. Repasch had 41 assists, 11 digs, and 3 blocks. Schoenen notched 8 kills and 10 digs.

Coverage of yesterday’s Senior Night showdown with Whitehall will appear in next week’s edition.

The team’s next match will be in the EPC semifinals on Wednesday. As of this writing, the time, place, and opponent had yet to be determined. Parkland and Emmaus are the third and fourth seeds, so one of those schools will likely be on the opposite side of the net.

The EPC championship game is next Friday. Districts start May 19.