Bishop Guertin's Gilli Tejeda (16) and Ava Steiniger (6) try to get a block on Pinkerton's Taylor Nastasi (2) during Tuesday night's Division I clash at the Colligadome. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The Bishop Guertin High School girls volleyball team now knows the level they want to be at.

They saw it in person on Tuesday night.

It was on the other side of the net, the defending Pinkerton Academy Astros, who left the Colligadome with a 25-21, 27-25, 25-19 sweep for the Cards’ first loss on the young season.

“I told them, they’re (Pinkerton) the standard,” Guertin coach Matt Erb said. “They’re the defending champs. They deserve to be the best. If we want to be there, we’ve got to start acting like it. We’ve got to start winning.”

Erb’s Cardinals got slow starts in each set.

“We had to start earlier,” Erb said. “I like the looks we got, I like the swings we took but they took advantage of the serving and the receiving, and they were the better team on that end today.”

The Cards didn’t help themselves with 25 unforced errors. “That’s not a way to win a game, right?” Erb said.

Meanwhile, it was different for the team in red.

“The girls played great, they came out intense and you could see that they wanted it,” Astros coach Todd Royce said. “They’re (BG’s) outsides (hitters) are amazing. (Caitlin) Harrington is really good, she can put her hands on anywhere on the court.

“We knew that coming in, we knew we were going to have to play our game, get our hands up and try to not let her get the shots that she wanted.”

Molly Jones and Taylor Nastasi had 11 kills each, while Lily Bronson had 14 assists and Nastasi 10 for the Astros.

Harrington was again BG’s best offensive player, as Royce alluded, with 21 kills and 10 digs while Claudia Daniel played well setting up BG’s offense with 28 assists.

“Running the offense she was fantastic, she always tried to put the ball in a good spot,” Erb said. “Caitlin doing what she does, we always try to expect more out of her as our best player. But no one is surprised by her any more. … People are game planning for her. They know No. 7.”

The key point in the match: The Cards were down 18-11 in the second set when suddenly they caught fire and grabbed a 25-24 lead and the Colligadome came alive. But alas, Ava Steiniger’s potential set point serve went long to tie it back up and the Astros got two quick points, the final an ace by Bronson for the 27-25 win.

“We had girls who were able to serve the ball realy well in those situations,” Royce said. “Lily served those last two points, the last an ace, and that was a heckuva play to come in.”

The Cards, who host Alvirne tonight, were deflated, and started the third set down 9-3 and never really recovered.

Lesson learned.

“Hopefully, they’ll take away that we still have a lot of work to do,” Erb said. “They (the Astros) are at talented team, they have what it takes, they have the experience. We don’t have that yet. We’re hoping as the season goes on we’ll get it. … We’ll be better as the season goes on.”