Having success in arguably the state’s best high school tournament has been nothing new to the Emmaus boys’ volleyball team.
In the last three years, the Hornets have reached the finals of the prestigious 40-team Bobcat Invitational Tournament at Northeastern High School.
Back in 2023, Emmaus captured the championship and one year later, found themselves back in the finals finishing runner-up to the eventual state champion, Shaler.
In what turned out to be a 16-hour day after leaving the high school at 6:30 a.m. and arriving home at 11:30 pm, the Hornets once again had another strong showing going up against some of the state’s best competition as they reached the championship after falling to District 3’s Cumberland Valley 2-0 (25-12, 25-18).
“The effort from everybody all weekend was great, and all the guys had an opportunity to play,” said second year head coach Jon Wilson. “We had a great run throughout playoffs beating some high-level teams.”
Emmaus, which entered the tournament as the No. 8 ranked team according to Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Assocation (PVCA), went undefeated in pool play after defeating Dallastown 30-21, Northern York 30-16, No. 7 Exeter 30-26 and No. 9 Pennsbury 30-11.
In the play-in bracket, the Hornets defeated Central Bucks East 15-5 and 15-7. In the championship bracket, Emmaus beat Red Land 2-1 (12-15, 15-10, 15-12), Governor Mifflin 2-0 (15-12, 15-13) and extremely talented No. 10 ranked Cedar Crest team in the semifinals 2-1 (19-25, 25-23, 17-15).
“Senior Lucas Mondin and sophomore Miles Boulrice played great all weekend,” said Wilson. “Senior Colin (Holden) did a great job in the middle and junior Ben Skekel was great. All of our liberos played really well.”
The Hornets will return to action on Tuesday at 6 p.m. as they host rival Parkland in a non-league match. The two teams will also face each other in the last EPC regular season match on April 30 at Parkland beginning at 6:45 p.m.
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