Northwestern beat North Schuylkill 3-0 in the first round of the District 11 Class 3A girls volleyball tournament.

In the opening set, Northwestern (16-7) jumped out to a 5-0 lead when Lacey Clymer served four straight points for Northwestern.

Daisy Stringer served five straight points, including an ace as Northwestern coasted to a 25-11 win in the opener. Stringer had two kills in the set for Northwestern. The opener was marked by a number of diving digs by libero Lexi George.

“We play really well together as a team and we try to minimize our errors,” said George. “Tonight we just got better and better with every set. We all hang out with each other outside of practice and all have a strong, family-like relationship. That helps us to stay calm and just focus on the next point.”

Northwestern allowed the Spartans (9-9) to hang around in the second set.

Tiger servers piled on points with Clymer again serving four straight points to help the Tigers to a 25-18 victory. Lilly Kinnon came up with a big kill to extend Clymer’s run, and Leah Nagle had two kills in the set for Northwestern.

“Clymer started the year as a dual roster player and between me and coach Jenny (Hudak),,” said Tiger head coach Mike Maston. “We saw her talent and thought it was being wasted on the JV level. Even on the last play, it was a back row attack with a kill for the win. She plays back row for our outside and I have no doubt that she can fill that position next year.”

The final set started much like the middle set. Northwestern broke serve and got three service points from George to go up 5-3. Kills by Anna Ebeling and Stringer extended the service by George.

Stringer eventually rattled off six service points, two of which came on aces to put the set away. Ebeling had another kill to extend the service for Stringer. Nagle picked up five service points with Alexa Diehl and Lily Kinnon getting kills to help lead the Lady Tigers to a 25-16 win in the closing set.

“We lost a lot of seniors from last year, but we definitely have the energy and the bond to come back, and I think that’s one of the reasons why we made it to the league championship,” said Kinnon, a senior. “We’re really excited about the talent that we have, and I think that we definitely have the best bond between the players that we have had in any of my four years on the team.”