At the beginning of every season, head coach Mike Krause lays out the goals and expectations for his team for the year. And every year the same four phases or goals are expected: win the league, win the conference playoffs, win the district tournament and become state champions.

Phase three of the season was accomplished last Thursday night with a 3-0 win in the District 11 final against rival Emmaus at Whitehall High School. Parkland won by scores of 25-15, 27-25, and 25-13 to improve to 22-0 overall this season.

"It's always our goal from the beginning to do better than last year," said senior Brooke Robertson. "Every practice we're just thinking about the next game and the next team that we are going to play. We stay in the present and just work hard at every game."

It was the fourth time the rivals down Cedar Crest Boulevard from each other had squared off this season, the last one coming in the inaugural Eastern Pennsylvania Conference final two weeks ago. But unlike last year's district tournament showdown when Emmaus beat Parkland 3-0 in the district semifinals, the Trojans got the better of the Green Hornets this year.

That hard work and never looking ahead has helped the Trojans to an undefeated record and a No. 1 state ranking from MaxPreps for most of the 2014 campaign.

Last Thursday night was no different. Parkland put in the hard work and effort in each game of the match, and was only really challenged in the middle game.

Game one saw the score tied 5-5, but the Trojans took control, scoring the next seven points. But in game two Emmaus gave Parkland all that it could handle. Even when the Green Hornets senior leader Mackenzie O'Brien went down, Emmaus rallied to take it into extra points.

That close second game, which went into extra points, may have taken a lot out of Emmaus.

The Green Hornets scored the first point, and trailed just 9-8. That's when Parkland saw the finish line and took it into second gear, outscoring Emmaus 16-5 the remainder of the way to finish off the match.

"They're a really great team and they always bring so much energy when we play them," said Robertson. "They're so loud, and we always want to match their volume because it gets your team motivated. It can be really difficult to play them when they're scoring points and getting really loud and into it. It was exciting to beat them in districts this year."

Parkland gets back to the state tournament a year after missing it.