Second-seeded Whitehall hosted seventh-seeded Northampton in a District XI Class 3A boys volleyball quarterfinal on May 20 when the Zephyrs extended their season and the Konkrete Kids closed out their season as Whitehall won the match in three sets, 25-12, 25-16, 25-17.

“You get nervous in a match like this because you don’t know what you’re gonna get because they could go desperation, and that could get you, so our guys knew that,” said Whitehall coach George Cowitch. “We’ve been talking about having a sense of urgency, and we played that way. We have to because it’s win or go home. What we did in the third set against Emmaus (in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference final) was what we did in the whole match today, so I’m excited about that.”

Adding to the match victory was Whitehall setter Kole Moyer reaching 1,000 career assists during the second set.

“It was in the back of my head, but I was mostly focused on winning the game and getting the job done,” Moyer said. “Right before [the announcement], my coach congratulated me. I’m proud of myself, but as a team, we have to keep moving forward onto the next round of districts. We did a lot of scrimmaging, a lot of passes, and a lot of reps so we would be prepared for tonight.”

Whitehall opposite hitter Cole Richards scored the first point of the second set, and middle hitter Omari Ratliff ended the set on a kill.

Cameron Coccetti made a nice save that led to a point for the Kids, but unforced errors put the Zephyrs ahead, 15-5, from which Northampton was unable to recover.

In a do-or-die third set, the Konkrete Kids stayed within five points in the first half despite two consecutive controversial out-of-bounds/tipped calls that went against the Kids, angering fans as middle blocker Logan Berger requested explanations from the official.

“That’s one thing we said in the timeout. Control the controllable,” said Northampton coach Sue Arndt. “We can’t control the calls, control what you can, and let it fuel you, and that’s what they did.”

Berger responded with a tremendous kill and another point was scored by Spencer Parker.

“I’m proud of them. I really am,” said Arndt. “We could’ve gone down a rabbit hole on some of these calls, but we’ve always focused on move forward, move forward, and they were able to quickly let it go.”

A kill by Whitehall middle hitter Peter Tabarani was the first point of five straight by the Zephyrs, prompting a timeout by Coach Arndt.

Northampton returned to the court with outside hitter Blake Youwakim leading the charge, making tough plays at the net and scoring on a kill.

“They all contributed, and that was one thing we said going into this match, specifically, that we can’t rely on one player to get it done,” said Arndt. “We needed to rely on the whole, and we are going to get those momentous kills from our bigger players, and the digs from our libero (Matthew Cramer), but it still propelled them to keep fighting for each other.”

Whitehall outside hitter Jayden Haik led the Zephyrs in kills with 11, doing the most damage in the second set.

“I see the blockers are blocking on the inside, so I cut back to the corner and hit that deep corner shot,” Haik said. “My coach always tells me to work on it in practice, so I’m used to hitting that shot. We worked on putting the ball in different spots and not just ripping at the ball, tipping in different spots, and keeping the intensity up all the time. Our defense was great out there, and we got every ball up.”

Whitehall will meet Freedom in a district semifinal on May 22 at Catasauqua with time still to be determined as of Press deadlines.

Northampton will graduate six seniors: Youwakim, Berger, Coccetti, Tony Namy, Spencer Parker, and Xander McDonald.

“They came in at the beginning of the season with a goal of staying united from start to finish and to be older brothers to the younger ones and to be men of character,” said Arndt. “That final thing is what they’re leaving behind, the ripple effect of who they were as individuals and who they were as senior leadership, and how much they’re leaving behind, pouring into the next generation.”