In the second set, Freedom ran into trouble holding serve and Emmaus took advantage of the struggle. Emmaus’ Cooper Henseler served two aces in the set and Brian Cobb picked up two kills. The Patriots misplayed some key volleys and the Hornets were able to pull away late in the set to go up 2-1 with a 25-19 win.
“We know how to go long. We were down 2-0 to Liberty and came back to win in five sets and we have been down other times and battled our way back,” said Freedom coach John Yanek. “I said to them ‘This is fun.’ They really were having fun and we just had to close a couple of glitches and we would be OK.”
Freedom used much better serves in the third set and played a tougher defense than what Emmaus had seen in the first two sets. Emmaus got an ace from Cobb to close the gap to 14-13 before Freedom calmly regrouped and closed out the set 25-18 to make things interesting.
At that point, the Hornets were the ones who had to fix some glitches to keep Freedom from finding its way back into the game. Henseler came up with strong serves and Logan Dougherty and Harris both produced kills to break the Patriots’ momentum.
“I thought I played better from the back row, actually,” said Harris. “We did start off strong tonight and I think that was important for us.”
Emmaus flexed its muscles in the fourth set and had Freedom reeling early. Late in the set, the Patriots again looked to be the aggressor and cut into the Hornets’ lead. Cobb took over on serves and added two late points for Emmaus and then the defense did the rest to take the final set 25-22.
“We knew they had reverse-swept Nazareth, losing the first two and then coming back to win three straight, so we knew they would be tough,” said Henseler. “We let up a little on the gas in that third set, so we knew we really had to come back in the fourth and we came out swinging and didn’t let them put any pressure on us.”
Emmaus’ only loss this season came against top-seeded Parkland. The rivals will meet in the conference finals as a prelude to the District 11 tournament.
“We ran a new lineup today, so the guys were a little rusty on it,” said Hornets coach Jeff Elsea. “They were able to execute well, and our defense played extremely well. We have some tweaks to make in the back row, but overall, we played well.”
Parkland faced much the same situation against Liberty (10-6, 8-4) in the other semifinal. The Trojans won the first two sets by scores of 25-13 and 25-21. Parkland dominated with serves in the first set and Josh Nation had a big game with key blocks and kills and the Trojans defense carried the team to the early win.
The second set was much closer with the score being tied 15 times, the final time at 21-21. An extended volley was won by Parkland, giving the Trojans a 22-21 edge with Josh Nation stepping up to serve. The sophomore helped push Parkland to the win with three strong serves, finishing off Liberty at 25-21.
“We did well at isolating the outside hitter and lifting his kills and we did a good job of blocking and working together really well,” said Nation.
Much like what Emmaus experienced against Freedom, this Bethlehem city team was not about to head home having lost in straight sets. The Hurricanes outplayed the Trojans in the third set apart from a late run by Parkland. The Trojans railed 21-17 but came back to tie the game at 22 on a kill by Luke Smith. Liberty then pulled together and an ace from Adam Mittl, who was injured when the two teams met during the regular season, made it 24-22. Again, Parkland broke serve, but Liberty returned the favor for a 25-23 win in the third set.
“Our guys did not want to let them make this any closer than it was,” Parkland coach Scott Trumbauer said. “They were looking to put them away, although we should have been doing that earlier.”
Parkland led 11-4 when Liberty’s Elden Campbell went up for a block and took the ball to his face, knocking him out of the game temporarily. Mittl added a kill for Liberty to make it 11-6, but the Trojans slowly extended their lead and after exchanging serves on five straight volleys, Bryce Fenstermaker cut it to 22-18 with a kill for Liberty. On the ensuing volley, Smith went for a kill, but the ball was saved and played back only to see Smith go right back to the same spot on his next kill opportunity to get the point and make it 23-18. After another exchange of volleys, Owen Rodgers came up with a kill off a Liberty serve to put the set in the win column and send Parkland to the finals.
“In volleyball you are going to have sets like that first one where we lost 25-13, but the key is how you bounce back and I thought we did a good job of that,” said Liberty coach Michael Zile. “We played much better in the next set and then took the third set and I think we had them thinking a little bit about us coming back, but we came up short.”
Parkland beat Northampton in last year’s conference final to win its first EPC title since 2016, which ended a streak of four consecutive conference titles for the Trojans. This time around, they meet rival Emmaus back at Allen next Wednesday. Parkland downed Emmaus in straight sets to finish off the regular-season schedule and the two teams have both been eyeing a rematch.
“We just have to play with the same intensity that we did tonight,” said Nation. “Our teams are familiar with each other, and we always know it’s going to be a battle, so we just have to prepare.”
The regular-season-ending loss left a bad taste in the Hornets’ mouths. It was their only setback of the season.
“We want to get our revenge,” said Emmaus’ Henseler. “That was a big game for us, and we started off slow and never got back into the game and got swept in three; we’re ready for the rematch.”
Chuck Hixson is a freelance writer.
