The teams were motivated. The crowd was raucous. It was just another battle of cross-town rivals on the volleyball court. In a matchup of unbeatens, Parkland (9-0) was able to withstand some Emmaus (8-1) flurries and win in three sets 25-19, 25-20, and 25-13.

It was a matchup of the No. 4 team in the state (Parkland) against the No. 5 team in the state (Emmaus), and had the feel of a state final in late September.

"It was awesome," said Parkland head coach Mike Krause. "The crowd was great and the student sections really came out."

The Hornets rode their emotions early on in game one as they scored the first point of the match, and built a 9-6 lead. But the Trojans stormed back to score five straight and never trailed again. It took Parkland a little bit of time and a timeout by Krause to get going, but once they did, they scored in bunches.

"We were a little excited and you saw that on some of the plays," said Krause. "We knew that there were things that we could adjust. We just had to slow down and play at our rhythm. I took a positive timeout to regroup, and this group is so good tactically, but since we haven't seen them (Emmaus) play yet, we had to adjust to some things."

In game two it was more of the same, as Emmaus scored first, but Parkland took the lead back right away and held on for a 25-20 win. The Trojans were helped by some lack of communication by the Green Hornets. A couple of points were lost when the ball was in the air and either two girls went for it, or they both thought the other was going for it and let it fall to the ground. That is something that a young team cannot do against a quality opponent, and Parkland took advantage.

Parkland showed why it is the defending state runner-up with a dominant performance in game three, winning 25-13.

Mary Zacher (11 kills) and Allora Atiyeh (eight kills) were strong on net for the Trojans. Morgan Rentzheimer tallied 10 digs, seven service points, and two aces. Veronica Coval contributed 20 assists, six kills, and seven service points. Kristin Krause had an all-around effort of 21 assists, seven digs, eight service points, and two aces.

The Trojans have not lost a game yet this season, and Krause attributes that to good practices.

"They know how to practice and know how to get stronger," said Krause. "We work on different things and we try to mold what they bring to practice into our system. We have great senior leadership."