The Northampton girls volleyball team clinched their first ever District XI playoff berth with a straight-set win over Notre Dame of Green Pond on Monday. The 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 win over the Colonial League’s second-best team was the their 9th of the season and extended their match winning streak to three.

Head coach Jess Finlayson had challenged the team before the season started.

“They have really figured out how to work together,” she said. “That was definitely a huge goal. I thought we should have made it last year. At the beginning of the year we said, ‘This is the year to make it to districts.’”

A service ace by Sydney Heffner on the first point of match set the tone as the Kids got out to early 4-0 and 9-3 leads and were never seriously challenged.

The second set was more tightly contested. The Crusaders held a 15-13 lead and were even at 18 before Northampton scored the last seven points. Alexa Borowski served a pair aces and Brooke Rockovits had three kills during the run to push the lead to two sets to none.

The final set followed the plot of the first as the Kids scored the first six points with Heffner serving. They also held leads of 13-6 and 24-16 before a late Notre Dame run made the final score look respectable.

On the historic night, the two senior captains – Heffner and Rockovits, led the way. Heffner had 25 assists, 6 aces, 3 kills, and 5 digs. Rockovits put away 13 kills and chipped in with 7 digs.

Rockovits spoke about what qualifying for districts means to the team, “We’ve worked so hard,” Rockovits said. “Since I was a freshman it’s been really difficult, but to finally get there means a lot. It’s the last time we’re going to do it, so it’s really meaningful to us. I’m really proud of all the girls stepping up and coming to this point.”

The next goal for the team is to qualify for the EPC tournament. A tough 5-set loss at Emmaus on Tuesday put their record at 9-5 overall and 7-5 in the EPC. It will probably take at least 9 conference wins to make the league playoffs.

Thursday night’s home match against Whitehall figures to provide one of the much-needed wins. The Zephyrs have struggled to a 2-11 mark on the season. The Kids then host Parkland on Monday and Central Catholic on Tuesday for Senior Night. Northampton travels to Nazareth next Thursday to close out their regular season for a match that could decide an EPC berth.

At Thursday’s match against Whitehall, the team will be collecting household items, in new condition, to support Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley for their Block Out Domestic Violence event. The types of items that are needed can be found at: https://www.turningpointlv.org/how-you-can-help/wish-list/