ORWIGSBURG – Lehighton’s fast rising volleyball program was trying to pass its biggest test in years.

Much to its chagrin, however, the task proved too difficult on Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the District 11 Class 3A tournament.

The Blue Eagles (11-8) have been at this juncture far more times than the Tribe and they showed it in a 25-13, 25-17, 25-19 sweep.

The loss eliminated Lehighton (14-7), but not without much hope and promise down the road.

“Of course it’s not the outcome that I was hoping for, and neither were the girls,” said first-year Lehighton head coach Lauren Neitz. “We don’t have a lot of experience in the postseason. I’ve got a very, very young team.”

Nietz knew coming in what the challenge would be like. The two teams had met twice during the regular season of the Schuylkill League, with Blue Mountain coming away with a pair of victories, while dropping just one game in the process.

“We had beaten them twice, but this is the playoffs and teams come ready to play, so you never take it for granted,” said Blue Mountain coach Gregg Gergely. “The goal was to come and play consistent.”

Blue Mountain never stumbled, and it began to gather a full head of steam and take advantage of six-straight unforced errors by the Indians to blurt to a 11-3 lead in the opening set. There was no quit in the Tribe, and they showed that with their best run of the match as they fought back to cut the Eagles’ lead to 15-12. But that was as close as it would get as Blue Mountain pulled away to take the opening game.

The Eagles jumped in front 20-11 in the second set, led by the super play of Rosa Gergely, Mikayla Schaeffer and rangy 6-foot sophomore Jaedyn Bartholome.

Once again, there was no quit in the Tribe as they turned to their talented junior Lorah Thomas, who was burying shots at the net, along with teammates Lyla Kershner and Amanda Burns to close the gap to 23-17. But a pair of unforced errors ended the run and gave Blue Mountain the set.

Blue Mountain put this game to rest in the final set, roaring out to a commanding 22-12 lead, and was never seriously threatened.

“I thought we’d have a little more fire in us,” Neitz said about her team’s overall lack of a consistent attack. “Usually we do a lot of attacking, but tonight I couldn’t get that fire going in them.”

BY THE NUMBERS … Thomas and Burns each had six kills for the Indians, Kershner logged 11 digs while Autumn Clewell had 17 assists.

LAST TIME … Elyse Holben, Synceray Behler and Burns are Lehighton’s only three seniors.