The Northampton boys volleyball team only had one home match last week and it looked like Thursday’s contest against 4-4 Dieruff would provide an excellent opportunity to shake off a pair of losses to Nazareth. However, the Huskies came to play and claimed the win in straight sets 25-20, 26-24, 25-21.

Head coach Sue Arndt reflected on the match, “We had a game plan going in and it didn’t carry through. We have some inexperienced players on the court. I’m not going to take anything away from them (Dieruff). They played great defense and sometimes defense wins games. That can frustrate bigger hitters – getting dug over and over again.”

The K-Kids led early in the first set and maintained an advantage until the score was 16-15. The Huskies’ offense came through with kills on the last three points to close out the set.

The second set was the most frustrating for the Kids. They held a late 21-18 lead and even a set point at 24-23 but could not convert.

Northampton fought back early in the final set to jump out to a 12-6 lead, however Dieruff eventually equalized at 14 before building a 24-18 advantage. The K-Kids had a three-point run to give the home fans some hope of a miracle comeback, but it was not to be.

Landon Nickerscher had a monster match with 17 kills and 13 digs. Caden Dempsey dished out 24 assists and had 12 digs. Matt Everhart was tops defensively with 22 digs. Jake Crossett tallied 6 kills. Logan Crossett notched 12 digs.

At 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the EPC at the halfway point of the season, Northampton needs at least a 5-4 finish to get back into the postseason. Their only home match this week is a Friday tilt against a Liberty team that is 7-1 this year against a relatively weak opening schedule.

Luckily for the Kids, the cavalry is arriving in the form of senior setter and captain Nolan Yost. Yost suffered a high ankle sprain in the preseason but has finally been cleared for full participation. He talked about sitting out, “It’s been pretty stressful watching from the sidelines. I’ve normally been in the position of always playing and to be on the sideline for that long has been rough. Caden’s been thrown in there with only one year of experience, so I’ve been trying to do whatever I can to help him out.”