After coming up short in its quest to defend its Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship, the Emmaus boys volleyball quickly turned their attention towards defending its District XI 3A title from a year ago.
With a week a much-needed week off in between tournaments, head coach Chris Miller’s team returned to action on Tuesday at home at ‘The Hive’ as they defeated Northampton in the quarterfinals for the second time this season sweeping the Konkrete Kids in straight sets.
The question now was could the Hornets do the same against a Freedom squad that it had just defeated a few weeks ago.
The answer? Yes.
Using an all-around team effort, Emmaus defeated the Patriots on Thursday night in the semifinals at Catasauqua High School in a four-set thriller 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 23-25, 29-27).
With the victory, the third-seeded Hornets (15-3) returned a return trip back to the finals and a date on Tuesday, May 26 at 6:45 p.m. at Catasauqua High School opposite fourth-seeded Whitehall (17-4), which knocked off top-seeded Parkland in straight sets. Emmaus also clinched a berth in the PIAA State Tournament.
“The big thing that helped us win tonight was that our middles Chris (Mitchell) and Kai (Lipski) slowed down the dominant Freedom middles,” said Miller, the Hornets first year head coach. “Another big thing was that our libero Jesse (Owusu) had 24 digs and helped us tremendously on the defensive side.
“On offense, Miles (Boulrice), Bilaal (Kerim), Grayson (Answini) and Ben (Skekel) were amazing,” he added. “They all showed up when we needed them. Ben getting seven kills as a setter is great and made our offensive attack easier for everyone. Lastly, our serving from Josiah (Brown) and Sander (Houtz) was amazing, they came in and gave us a spark at a spot we needed a spark. It was an all-around great game for everyone.”
Boulrice and Kerim both had big performances with each leading the way with 16 kills, while Answini had 11. Skekel also shined in the victory with his seven kills, seven digs and 51 assists. Owusu led the defense with 24 digs.
Freedom ended their season at 15-3 with the loss.
Up next for the Hornets will be a third matchup against Whitehall. The teams have split the previous two meetings with Emmaus winning during the regular season in five sets (3-2) and the Zephyrs prevailing in four sets (3-1) in the EPC semifinals. Emmaus will be aiming for its second straight title and 22nd overall in program history. Whitehall will be searching for its first since 2019.
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