It’s been 30 long years since the Emmaus girls volleyball team won their only District XI championship in program history.
Unfortunately for the Hornets, they will have to wait at least another year for their next title.
Archrival Parkland stood in the way of Emmaus winning just their second championship since 1995 on Thursday night at Catasauqua High School as the Trojans outlasted the Hornets in five sets to claim yet another District XI title.
“Well, we did not perform the way we had hoped,” said Jess Olang, Emmaus’ second year coach. “Despite that, the coaching staff was still very proud of the girls because they never let up.”
Emmaus, which was coming off winning its first ever league championship in program history, had trailed in the match twice but were able to rally and force a fifth and deciding before the Trojans denied the Hornets comeback winning the final set 15-10.
“A few early errors in set five put us behind out of the gate,” said Olang. “It’s very difficult to recover in such a short fifth set, but we did rally back.”
The result marked the third time this season that the two teams had battled to five sets. For Parkland, it was their 11th district title in the last 12 years.
Head coach Mike Krause’s squad led by senior Kasia Burda who had 17 kills. Junior Riley Schilling had nine kills and freshman Sami Walls was next with eight. Defensively, sophomore Chloe Coonradt had 32 digs, while junior Zoey Leach had 19 digs and sophomore Josee Kim 16. Freshman Alex Serina handed out 41 assists.
For Emmaus, senior outside hitter Amanda Rivera recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 13 digs. Sophomore Fiona Answini was next with 11 kills, while junior Rosie Landino had seven kills to go along with six digs. Senior defensive specialist Haley Seidel had a team-high 20 digs and fellow senior Alyssa Heffner ran the offense tallying 37 assists and 11 digs.
“We always tell the girls as long as we’re able to look each other in the eye and know we gave it everything we had, we can walk out with our heads held high,” said Olang.
“Parkland definitely came ready to play and they had one of their best matches I’ve seen them play. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our night, but we have set our sights on the state tournament, and we are excited to extend our season.”
Emmaus will open up play on Tuesday at 6 p.m. as they make the long trip north to Delaware Valley to take on the District 2 champs. The Hornets will be making their first appearance in states since the 2019 season.
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Parkland 3, Emmaus 2
Pa – 25-23-25-23-15
Em – 12-25-23-25-10