“It’s a work in progress. I’m happy where we stand, just not in the standings,” said Northampton girls volleyball coach after the team’s 5-set loss against Emmaus Tuesday night in Pete Schneider Gymnasium.

He continued, “We’re good this year. We have the ability to compete with these top teams. We just have to fix it.”

The frustrating thing about the loss 23-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 12-15 defeat at the hands of the Hornets is that the K-Kids held a lead in every set.

In the first set, Northampton was up 23-21 before Emmaus ran off the final 4 points. In the second set, the Kids were leading 18-16 when the Hornets went on a 5-point run to take control.

The K-Kids never trailed in the third set as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead and steadily increased the margin as play progressed.

The end of the penultimate set was a nail-biter as a 24-19 lead slowly evaporated. Holihan called timeouts at 24-21 and 24-23 to try to stem the tide. Angela Fisher responded with a cross-court kill to end the fourth set drama in the Kids’ favor.

In the tiebreaking fifth set, Northampton bounced back from an early 2-4 deficit to claim a 9-7 lead. Emmaus’ ensuing 5-point run put the Kids’ backs against the wall and while they clawed back to 11-12, they could not fully rein in the Hornets.

Naomi Nebiyou paced Northampton with 18 kills and added 19 digs. Setter Molly Hughes led the Kids with 25 digs and 35 assists. Morgan Hughes contributed 23 digs. Payton Reuber had 13 kills, 19 digs, and 3 blocks. Fisher finished with 6 kills and 8 digs.

The K-Kids lost their opening match of the year against Southern Lehigh, also in 5 sets. The 0-2 start comes at the hands of the two of the Lehigh Valley’s traditional volleyball powers, which led to Holihan’s mixed assessment of the team’s start to the season.

The squad will look to notch a few wins leading up to their matchup at home against powerhouse Parkland on Wednesday. Thursday, they traveled to Allentown to take on the always challenging Vikettes of Central Catholic.

On Saturday morning, the Kids host Dieruff in what should be a break from a grueling early season schedule. Tuesday’s home match against Easton could prove to be critical to postseason seeding.