The first 204 points of Northampton’s girls volleyball match against Allentown Central Catholic passed without a single disputed decision by the officials. The 205th point, with the K-Kids holding a match point at 15-14 in the fifth and final set, was a different matter.

During the point, a Central back row player wandered inside the 10-foot line and attacked the ball while it was above the net. This is an illegal play and should have resulted in Northampton winning the point and therefore the match.

Kids’ head coach Mike Holihan noticed the violation immediately and was seen signaling for the call even before the point had finished playing out (Central “won” the point).

After a minute or so of discussion, the officials decided to replay the point. The Vikettes won the do-over and the next two points to win the match and break Northampton’s 7-match winning streak.

Although the missed infraction would have given the K-Kids the victory, they could have closed out the match much earlier and avoided the drama. They won the first set convincingly 25-15 and led throughout the second set in claiming that one 25-20.

Despite Central winning the third set 25-17, Northampton had an early 7-4 advantage before the Vikettes won 13 of the next 15 points.

In the penultimate set, the Kids fell behind 8-3 before coming all the way back to lead at 23-22. Central won the final three points to even the match.

Even in the final set, Northampton had a couple of chances to close out the match before the fateful illegal attack. They held match points at 14-12 and 14-13 but could not convert.

Holihan was obviously disappointed with the call and the result, but gave credit to Central.

“Honestly, they turned it up,” he said. “They started playing very, very well and I don’t think we were ready for that. We lost focus and that teamed picked up their level of play.”

The loss dampened the spirits of what would have been a celebration of setter Molly Hughes reaching a career milestone of 1,000 assists early in the first set. Sister Morgan Hughes, the team’s libero, had reached the 500 dig mark two weeks earlier against Freedom.

The Kids are 10-4 on the season (pending the outcome of last night’s contest against Parkland which was past deadline) and 10-3 in the EPC. They have qualified for both the district and league tournaments, but their seeds are far from settled.

They wrap up the regular season with three home matches. On Monday, they play once-beaten Notre Dame G.P., on Wednesday they host Allen, and next Thursday Whitehall will be in town for Senior Night.