North Schuylkill sort of snuck into the District 11 Class 3A tournament.

The Spartans finished the regular season at 9-9, good enough to extend their season.

Unfortunately for them, their prize was a pigtail round matchup with Northwestern, the runners up for the Colonial League championship.

It didn’t take long for the Tigers to maul the Spartans Monday night with a straight set win to end the season for North Schuylkill.

In the opening set, Northwestern jumped out to a 5-0 lead when it broke service and Lacey Clymer opened up by serving four straight points for Northwestern. Later, Daisy Stringer served five straight points, including an ace as Northwestern coasted to a 25-11 win in the opener.

In addition to her ace, Stringer had two kills in the set for Northwestern. North Schuylkill was only able to get four points off serves, including one ace. The opener was also 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, and tonight we just got better and better with every set,” said George. “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.”

The Spartans showed more battle in the second set, but Northwestern servers were able to pile on points with Clymer again serving four straight 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 for Northwestern.

North Schuylkill took its first lead in the match when it went up 2-0, before the Tigers broke serve and got three straight service points from George to take a 4-2 advantage. The Spartans again put up a fight, though, and broke serve to make it 4-3, and later went up 6-4 with Carrah Hill getting three straight service points. Northwestern battled back to take a 7-6 lead and never looked back from there.

“Clymer started the year as a dual roster player and between me and coach Jenny (Hudak), we saw her talent and thought it was being wasted on the JV level,” said coach Mike Maston of his sophomore player. “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 after Alex (Diehl), our senior leaves this year.”

The final set started much like the middle set with the two teams battling back and forth. North Schuylkill went down 1-0, before it battled back to take a 3-1 lead, which would be the final lead that the Spartans would hold.

Northwestern broke serve and got three service points from George to go up 5-3. Kills by both Anna Ebeling and Stringer extended the service by George. While they never did lead again, the Spartans tied the set at eight when Raven Marlow added three straight service points, only to see Northwestern brake serve and Stringer rattle 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. Later, Nagle picked up five service points, with both Alexa Diehl and Lily Kinnon getting kills. The Tigers won the closing set 25-16.

“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, of the team’s chemistry together. “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.”

The win sends Northwestern into the quarterfinals where it will face Schuylkill League champion Panther Valley, the No. 2 seed in 3A volleyball, Wednesday night at Panther Valley.

THE NEXT HURDLE … Northwestern has never advanced past the quarterfinal round of districts. Just as they reached the league finals for the first time, the Tigers are hoping to reach the semifinal round of districts for the first time in the program’s history. The Tigers are now 16-7 overall, while the Panthers are 18-2 this season.