The Northampton girls volleyball started their 2023 EPC campaign on Tuesday with a match against division rival Central Catholic. The Vikettes are a traditional power and showed that this year’s squad will be no exception as they won all three sets, 25-16, 25-21, 25-17.

The K-Kids fell behind early in the first set 4-12 but played the Vikettes to a stalemate the rest of the way. Head coach Mike Holihan assessed the early part of the match, “We were a little nervous. There’s always nerves when you play a big program. Once we settled in, our serving was great and they (Central) struggled to pass. Once the ball was in play though, they cranked up the offense.”

Northampton had a chance to steal the second set. They went up 9-5 early and led 17-14 toward the end of the set, but a pair of 4-point Central runs put the Vikettes over the top.

The Kids also had a nice burst of play to start the third set, jumping to a 7-3 advantage, but Central was able to equalize by the midway point of the set and eventually close out the match.

Despite the loss, the enthusiasm of the team never waned. Points won were celebrated. Points lost were greeted with consolation and support. Holihan said, “I’m excited to see how everyone continues to grow. We’re a happy bunch of kids. They’re enjoying themselves. It helps to make losses like this more tolerable.”

“When you start the season with Southern Lehigh, Central, Parkland, and Liberty as your first four matches there’s no time to dwell on these losses. There’s a lot of things we’ve been working on that they did better tonight. I’m looking at these first four games as an opportunity to grow as a team so that when we play Central, Emmaus, and Parkland at the end of the year we can give them a run for their money,” asserted Holihan.

Claire Erdman led the team with 7 kills and also was tops with 12 digs. Addie Morgan dished out 14 assists and had 7 digs. Morgan Chandler had 5 service aces and a team-high 2 blocks. Jessie Domchek chipped in 3 kills, 5 digs, and 3 aces.