Winning District XI championships is nothing new for the Emmaus boys volleyball team.
In their long-storied history, the Hornets have won 22 overall titles and were looking for their 23rd last night in their finals matchup against rival Whitehall at Catasauqua High School.
The Zephyrs had been the last team to defeat Emmaus back on May 12 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinals, 3-1.
After denying the Hornets an opportunity to win back-to-back league titles, head coach Chris Miller’s squad quickly turned its attention towards defending its District XI title from a year ago.
And boy did they defend it.
Third-seeded Emmaus completed an impressive run through the tournament and capped it off with yet another championship while denying Whitehall a chance at its first since 2019.
In their third meeting against the Zephyrs this season, the Hornets dominated in straight sets 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-22).
“It was very special to win the championship in my first year,” said Miller. “I dreamed of this happening, and it actually did. The trust the kids put into the process, through all the practices and game plans we took into every game was incredible.
“These kids worked hard for me day in and day out, and I don’t have enough words to express how special this group is to me as a coach. The captains of Miles Boulrice, Ben Skekel, Grayson Answini and Chris Mitchell helped set a level of excellence and everyone formed to it.”
Boulrice, the league’s MVP, led the Hornets offensive attack with a game-high 17 kills and nine digs, while Kerim was next with 12 kills and five digs and Answini added 10 kills and eight digs.
Defensively, senior libero Jesse Owusu had a team-best 14 digs while Skekel ran the offense with 40 assists and also had eight digs.
Miller also highlighted two other players who had huge impacts.
“Our middles Chris Romig and Kai Lipski had a dominant performance, and it flipped the whole game,” he said. “We have worked with them all year since they are sophomores and yesterday, they would get the MVPs for our team!
“And then our offensive attack of Bilaal, Miles and Grayson was crazy. They all played great and we could count on all three of them whenever we needed to.”
Whitehall, which had reached the finals after three set sweeps of both Nazareth and Parkland, dropped to 15-5 with the loss. The Zephyrs will travel to District 2 champ Abington Heights on Tuesday, June 2 for the opening round of the PIAA State Tournament.
Meanwhile, Emmaus will host a first-round matchup for the second consecutive season vs the District 3 third place team (Central Dauphin/Hempfield/Cumberland Valley). A year ago, the Hornets fell to Governor Mifflin 3-2 at home.
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