The Northampton boys volleyball team evened their record on the season at 2-2 with a straight-set victory over Southern Lehigh Friday night at Pete Schneider Gymnasium.

The Kids’ defensive prowess was on display in the first set. After briefly falling behind 4-3, Northampton put the clamps on the Spartans’ service game, allowing them only a single point on serve, as they dominated 25-12.

The team came out a little flat in the second set and fell behind 22-18. A five-point run on Chris Miller’s serve put the Kids into the lead and an ace by Jackson Fehnel closed out the set 25-23.

Northampton got back on track in the final set, surrendering only three points on Southern Lehigh serves on the way to finishing off the match 25-14.

Senior co-captain and libero Luis Roman keyed the defense with 10 digs. He also had 5 aces and 2 kills. Fehnel led the Kids with 6 kills and had an equal number of digs. Aidan Holihan had 4 kills and 6 digs. Junior setter and co-captain Miller had 25 assists.

Although the team won in straight sets, head coach Sue Arndt felt the team had performed better in an earlier match in which they lost to Parkland in 4 sets.

“They performed unbelievably against Parkland,” said Arndt. “They pushed them to the limit.”

The Kids are looking to continue a two-year streak of qualifying for districts.

“I think our record’s going to be better than 11-9 (last year’s record),” said Arndt. “The younger ones don’t have that deer in the headlights look. Jackson Fehnel, the outside freshman, is doing really well. He plays all the way around and he’s become more Steady Eddie.”

Roman looks like he has the potential to make an EPC all-star team at the end of the season.

“We can’t do any of this without Luis,” Arndt said. “I’ve been coaching for 28 years and he’s in the top-5 of defensive players that I’ve ever coached. He’s just that good and that coachable. I’ve told the team, ‘We’re going to win games at first defensively and then the offense will come.’”

Northampton added a 4-set win over Dieruff on Monday to push their record to 3-2.

The Kids’ upcoming matches are Friday at 7 p.m. at Whitehall and a home match on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Pocono Mountain East for Mentor Night.

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