On paper, it was a relatively easy, four-game victory over a quality opponent in the league semifinals.

But to the Parkland girls volleyball team, Monday's win over Central Catholic may have been something more - a wakeup call.

"We needed this, we needed this," head coach Mike Krause said. "We needed to be pushed and we need to get up to speed a little bit."

It's the postseason and that means one slip up can spell the end of the year. The Lady Trojans, currently ranked second in Pennsylvania, would rather that end came on their terms, not another team's.

That team wasn't going to be Central Catholic on Monday and it wasn't Emmaus Wednesday in the Lehigh Valley Conference final. Losing in the league tournament would just mean a lower seed for districts.

But once District 11 play begins on Friday, it's win or go home. And the Trojans would rather make that ride with a fire truck and police escort like they did after winning last year's state championship.

Two weeks after dominating the Vikettes 25-15, 25-13, 25-15, the Trojans faced a much tougher task on Monday.

They broke away late to take the first set 25-20 and did the same in the second in a 25-19 win. But in the third Central flipped the script, scoring five of the last eight points after a 20-20 tie to win 25-23.

"Whenever we play them we always think about beating Central Catholic," senior co-captain Taylor Krause said. "I think we weren't focused as much on the game and it showed until the fourth set when we finally played how we should."

That's when the Trojans brought their A game with Kelly Robertson's eight kills leading the way to an impressive 25-10 win.

After dominating LVC opponents and posting their third straight unbeaten league season, the Trojans need to guard against complacency at this time of year.

"We want to play the game that we know how to play," Coach Krause said. "Our goal is to play the best that we possibly can and with that, hopefully, comes success."

The senior duo of Kelly Robertson (20 kills) and Alicia Weigel (12 kills) did most of the heavy lifting, while Mary Zacher added 10 kills. Taylor Krause continued her big year with 48 assists.

But the Trojans saw success from some different sources, especially early on.

Veronica Koval showed her versatility with eight kills, three blocks and an assist. Sophomore Brooke Robertson saw extended action in the second game and responded with two kills.

"We're trying to get everyone experience in case anything happens," Coach Krause said. "That gives the other girls a chance to see what's happening in their position when they're not on the floor."

The mixture of youth and experience has been a winning formula for the girls this season and now they're looking forward to showing just how dangerous of a team they can be.

"We're really excited for this time of year," Taylor Krause said. "We're so excited to be playing Emmaus because they always play us really well. A we really need to keep playing like how we did in the fourth set [against Central]."