3/25/19
Emmaus’ bid for a third straight championship at the Red Rover Invitational came up one round short on Saturday at Easton Area Middle School as the Hornets fell to the host school in the playoff round.
“It was a little disappointing of a tournament this weekend,” said head coach Ken Dunkle. “Not because we didn’t win, but because of the way we handled ourselves when we were challenged. We had good energy while we were playing well, but had trouble sustaining it when things were stacked against us. “
Emmaus defeated Easton 25-20 in the first set of the semifinals, but the Red Rovers responded by stunning the Hornets in the next two sets, winning 25-21 in Set 2 and then taking the winner-take-all third and final set 15-11.
“In our semifinal match against Easton, we controlled the first set, but got into a hole in second,” said Dunkle. ” We lost our energy on the court and on the bench. We got one dimensional in our offense, we were getting out hustled on defense, and we stopped hitting smart.
“The good news is that we have a lot of talent on this team, and I think this weekend will really help motivate the guys to fix these issues.”
Emmaus had advanced to the semifinals after sweeping league foe Nazareth 2-0 (25-19, 25-18) in the opening-round of the playoffs.
In pool play, the Hornets went 7-1 after defeating Northampton (25-19, 26-24), Central Bucks South (25-17, 25-23) and Haverford (25-21, 25-18) and splitting with North Penn (22-25, 25-21).
Central Bucks East wound up winning the championship after defeating Easton 2-0 in the finals.
Emmaus will return to the court and EPC action on Tuesday at 5:45 pm. as they travel to Nazareth. The Hornets are 1-0 in league play after defeating Liberty in five sets (3-2) last Friday.
Pool play
def. Northampton 2-0 (25-19, 26-24)
def. CB South 2-0 (25-17, 25-23)
split North Penn 1-1 (22-25, 25-21)
def. Haverford 2-0 (25-21 25-18)
Playoffs
def. Nazareth 2-0 (25-19, 25-18)
lost Easton 2-1 (25-20, 21-25, 11-15)
Stats — Emmaus
Kills – Stephen Reynolds 36, Ethan Parvel 23, Mark Swedberg 15, Noah Szankovics 13
Digs – Harrison Dottery 20, Reynolds/Parvel 8
Aces – Reynolds/Defrain 6, Parvel 4
Assists – Gannon DeFrain 109