Northampton’s volleyball team may have finished the season on the downswing, but the K-Kids are looking for brighter things heading into next season.

After a strong start to the season, Northampton lost 10 of their final 11 games of the year to finish 7-11.

Head coach Jessica Finlayson knows that the experience of this year should help the team moving forward.

“Although our record may not reflect a winning season, I believe that our athletes learned that they have what it takes to be a contender in the EPC,” Finlayson said. “There were only five matches over the course of our season in which we did not win one set. The rest of the matches in our season, we won at least one set against our opponent.”

With Whitehall, Parkland, Emmaus, Nazareth and Central Catholic being the culprits of the Kids 10 combined losses to end the year, all of those squads ended up being in the district postseason. Despite the tough final stretch, Finlayson was proud of what this year’s senior group was able to achieve over the years.

“I’ve had the pleasure of watching this senior class grow since they’ve been freshman,” she said. “The program has grown immensely in the past couple years with these six seniors leading the way. We are losing many offensive and defensive players in this graduating class.”

Gone to graduation is outside hitter, Julia Kester, middle blockers, Jade Rindock and Maddie Deloglos, libero, Karissa Hartzell, setter, Olivia Lucas, and right side, Krystal Heffelfinger.

With the focus on the offseason, Finlayson hopes for improvement and more involvement from the returning players.

“In the off season, we will train with our St. Luke’s trainer and have open gyms to continue to build up the program,” she said. “Many girls are playing club volleyball in the Lehigh Valley area to compete alongside with talented athletes from other schools. Some key returners include setter, Sydney Heffner, libero/outside hitter, Brooke Rockovits, and right side, Abby Franke. We are looking forward to next season.”