As the volleyball regular season entered its final week, the Northampton boys team had an opportunity to assess their place in the EPC pecking order with a match against previously undefeated Freedom last Thursday in Pete Schneider Gymnasium.

While the K-Kids did manage to win a set against the Patriots, their performance fell flat in the final two sets of the 18-25, 27-25, 12-25, 8-25 contest.

“Freedom’s a great team. They’ve always been a great team starting with that libero,” explained head coach Sue Arndt. “We went in with a plan and executed during one of the set and then- I don’t know. We’re still not peaked. We’re still not where we need to be. We’re trying to figure out how to get consistent and stay consistent.”

Buoyed by the emotion of Senior Night, Northampton played with high energy in the opening set, clawing to a 13-12 lead midway through the frame. However, Freedom went on a 10-point run and the Kids were never able to get the deficit back under 5.

In the second set, the K-Kids trailed 22-18 late, but were able to rally and even the match at a set apiece.

“I told the team, ‘As long as we’re playing together, nobody’s going to stop us’,” said Arndt. “That set proved it. The all stayed calm and worked hard together and it wasn’t a case where we relied on only one person.”

The final two sets got ugly early, leaving the team with more questions than answers heading into the final few matches of the season.

Fortunately for the K-Kids, they have already locked up berths in both the EPC and district tournaments. They are 10-6 overall and 7-4 in the league.

The conference tournament starts May 7 and the 6-team field is set: Freedom, Emmaus, Parkland, Nazareth, Whitehall, and Northampton. The final day of the league season was Wednesday, and the results were not available at Press time.

The Kids played Whitehall and Emmaus took on Parkland, so the seeds will be dependent on the results of those matches. Northampton will be either the fifth or sixth seed and go on the road next Thursday.

Freedom 3, Kids 1

N’hampton 18 27 12 8

Freedom 25 25 25 25

Northampton stats (kills-digs): Kieren Lieb (11-16), Matt Gehringer (11-9), Caden Dempsey (5-13-24 assists), Josiah Angstandt (4-3), Yariel Lugo (1-4), Brayden Hatchman (1-1-3 blocks), Matt Cramer (0-10)