5/12/19
After having qualified for the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoffs in his first four years at Emmaus and winning the past two league championships, the last thing head coach Ken Dunkle probably had to worry about was being left on the outside looking in on this year’s playoffs.
It nearly happened.
“Certainly it wasn’t on my radar (at the beginning of the season) but neither was losing my top two outside hitters that probably would have been first team all stars,” said the Hornets coach.
With Stephen Reynolds lost for the season with an ACL injury suffered back on April 23 and Ethan Parvel having left the team late in the season, Dunkle and his team have had to pick up the pieces after losing their top two players.
Without both Reynolds and Parvel in the lineup, the Hornets went just 3-2 in their last five matches, including a pair of rare home losses to both Liberty (3-1) and most recently to rival Parkland (3-2) this past Monday.
But despite that, Emmaus still found a way to sneak in and be a part of this year’s league tournament — thanks to an assist from Freedom.
On the last day of the regular-season Friday, the Patriots knocked off rival Liberty 3-1, giving the Hornets the fourth and final seed. Both Emmaus and Liberty finished with identical 12-4 records in the EPC and split during the regular-season in their two matches, but the tiebreaker was awarded to the Hornets based on power rankings.
That’s the good news.
The reward, however, for getting into league tournament, which gets underway on Monday at Allen High School is a semifinal date at 7 p.m. with top-seeded Whitehall.
Emmaus, which has defeated Whitehall in the past two league championships, will face a tall task as they’ll take on the Zephyrs who went undefeated during the regular-season, including a three-set sweep over the Hornets back on April 11.
The other semifinal beginning at 5:30 p.m. will pit Parkland, the No.2 seed at 13-3, taking on third-seeded Freedom also at 13-3 The finals are set for Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Emmaus has also qualified for the District XI Tournament which also gets underway this coming week. The Hornets, the two-time defending champs, are the No.5 seed and will travel to fourth-seeded Freedom at 6 p.m. on Thursday in their quarterfinal round match.
Whitehall is the top overall seed and will host eighth-seeded Nazareth at 6 p.m.; Delaware Valley, from District 2, is the second-seed and will host seventh-seeded Easton at 5 p.m. and Parkland is the third seed and will be at home to sixth-seeded Liberty at 6 p.m. The semifinals are set for 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21 at Catasauqua High School with the finals being held at 7 p.m. on Thursday back at Catasauqua.
Follow @Emmaussports.com on twitter and ‘like’ Emmaus boys volleyball on facebook to keep up to date on the Hornets throughout the season.
Also, the EPC recently announced a list of its all-stars for the 2019 season. Here’s the full list:
EPC All-Stars – 1st Team – STEPHEN REYNOLDS (EMMAUS), Brad Turocy (Freedom), Michael Vargas (Liberty), Luis Roman (Northampton), Seth Fine (Parkland), Joe Herman (Whitehall – MVP), Richard Melosky (Whitehall)
2nd Team – Ryan Mattes (Easton), Sam Capwell (Liberty), Quinn Hornberger (Nazareth), Logan Iacobelli (Parkland), Ian Dashukewich (Parkland), Aziz Atiyeh (Whitehall), Alex Khouri (Whitehall)
Hon. Ment – Chenla Long (Allen), Jacob Sledz (Becahi), HARRISON DOTTERY (EMMAUS), David Barnes (Freedom), Moses Omwega (Liberty), Gavyn Coleman (Liberty), Jordan Lewis (Parkland), Dylan McGinley (Whitehall)