Early in the season, Notre Dame (Green Pond) beat the Northwestern Lehigh girls volleyball team 3-1 on the Tigers’ home court.

The win made the Crusaders a perfect 10-0 over the years playing at Northwestern. On Monday, the Tigers went to Notre Dame and for the second straight trip there, paid no attention to their surroundings and the idea of the Crusaders having a home court advantage when Northwestern won 3-1 to even the season series between the two teams.

Shannon Green had 45 assists for the Tigers in the win at Notre Dame, while Kylie Nagle had 32 digs and Bailey Murray with 16 kills.

Tuesday night against Allen, Murray picked up 11 more kills and 12 digs, Nagle had 20 digs, four kills and Green had 34 assists to go with two aces.

Because the Colonial League has only seven schools that play volleyball, the playoffs consist of the top two teams in the league facing each other in a winner-take-all for the league title. Southern Lehigh pretty much has reserved seating for the event, having won six of the ten championships that the league has handed out since the start of girls volleyball for the 2023 season. The Spartans’ reign includes the last six championships.

The other spot in the finals for this season has been a battle between Northwestern and Notre Dame. With their win over the Crusaders and a nonleague win over Allen Tuesday night, Northwestern improved to 10-6 overall on the season and stands at 7-2 in the Colonial League. The Crusaders have an identical league mark, leaving the two teams tied with a week left on the schedule.

In league play, both teams have to face Southern Lehigh (9-0) and Catasauqua (3-7), while Northwestern plays Saucon Valley (5-4) at home and Notre Dame travels to Palmerton (0-10). Should the two teams remain tied at the end of the regular season, they call in the mathematicians who determine the number-two seed through first the Colonial League power ranking of the two teams and if that doesn’t snap the tie, then the district power rankings come into play. If after all that the teams are still tied, they would face off on the court.