From the outset of Tuesday’s District 11 Class 3A volleyball matchup, Lehighton just couldn’t get anything going against Bethlehem Catholic.

And because of that, the Golden Hawks gained a 25-9, 25-9, 25-13 sweep to advance to the next round.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t in the right mindset to get started,” Lehighton head coach Jason Green said. “Against a good team like that, you can’t dig yourself a hole and think that you’re going to get out of it.

“You have to press and go after the other team and expose any openings that they have. Tonight, we didn’t do a good job of executing the game plan. Some of our passes were not on tonight.”

Megan Aaron had five digs, four blocks and one kill for Lehighton in the quarterfinal contest, while Hailey Miller had 12 digs and Lorah Thomas registered two blocks and five kills.

In the end, though, Becahi was just too strong.

“Lorah Thomas was effective and unfortunately, our center was running all over the place trying to keep balls and get up some where we can attack them,” Green said. “On Bethlehem Catholic’s side, they have some good hitters. You’ve got to be disciplined. If you’re not, they’re going to exploit that, and that’s pretty much what happened.”

The Indians’ Madilynn Stoffey also recorded two kills and four blocks in the contest, with Mia Snyder contributing seven assists.

Despite the loss, Green pointed to some positives from the regular season.

“Overall, the team definitely came a long way,” Green said. “They’re learning a lot, putting in the new system since I’m here. They’re starting to grasp and understand it. They had their matches against Jim Thorpe and Saucon Valley where they communicated extremely well, and that’s a really big part of it.

“You’ve got to have that really good line of communication, and they did that at times throughout the year. And then there’s other times where it broke down, like tonight ... When you don’t have that communication, it doesn’t help you.”

END OF THE LINE ... Lehighton, who was the No. 6 seed in the tournament, closed its season with an overall record of 10-9. The Indians lose only two seniors, but both were key contributors. Graduating will be Aaron and Miller.

MOVING ON ... The third-seeded Hawks will now face No. 2 seed Southern Lehigh in the semifinals. That match will be played Thursday evening at Northwestern.