Despite their loss to league and state power Emmaus Tuesday night in five games, Whitehall head volleyball coach George Cowitch likes the direction of his team.

He also believes it was the first step in a process that can pay dividends in the near future. The defeat dropped the Zephyrs to 4-5 on the season.

"Even though we got an L (loss), I really think we came together as a team," said Cowitch. "We are starting three seniors, three sophomores and two juniors. There was no doubt that we played and stayed with this veteran team coming back and I knew this would take some time.

"I really like where we are headed right now."

Cowitch stated the team's early part of their schedule was laced with stiff challenges against the likes of Neshaminy, Parkland, Nazareth, Liberty, Easton along with Emmaus to basically help strengthen his club.

"We wanted to have an early schedule like that one," he said. "We played teams that were senior-laden and we knew it would be some tough matches. We wanted to take care of business at the front of out schedule.