It's been smooth sailing for the Parkland boys volleyball team all season long.

The Trojans continued that hot streak last week against their toughest league opponent yet.

Against the only other undefeated team in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, Parkland took the first two sets (25-13, 25-18) against Emmaus relatively easily. And while the Hornets tied the third game late at 24-24, the Trojans' 26-24 victory in that third game secured a sweep for Parkland (24-1 overall, 8-0 in EPC) last Thursday.

"We had a match earlier [against Dieruff] where we didn't play as best as we could," said Parkland head coach Scott Trumbauer. "We played down a bit for really no reason. It was good to see a response to that, and to play a good team and play well."

Emmaus rallied in the third set after staring at a 20-14 deficit following one of eight kills for Andrew Hillman. The Hornets scored seven of the next eight points that tied it at 21-21 on a point by Patrick Bryan.

But when the Trojans were tested on numerous occasions in that decisive game, they had an answer to break all three ties late.

After knotting it at 21-21, the Trojans scored the next two points capped by a Jake Heyer kill from Hillman. Heyer had seven kills and eight blocks in the match.

When it was 23-23, Kyle Stout (7 kills, 4 blocks) came up with the game's biggest block to give the home team a one-point advantage. And when it got to 24-24, two consecutive kills from Sean Lewis (9 kills) sealed the win.

"I like when we have games like that simply because it gets our blood flowing," Trumbauer said. "It kind of keeps us focused and into the match, as opposed to kind of being able to cruise to the end."

The combination of Hillman and Bryce Galloway guided the Trojans to a victory in the first set. Hillman's service ace cemented that 25-13 victory over Emmaus.

In their second-game victory, one in which Emmaus led for only three points, Parkland used a 6-2 spurt late to close out the Hornets.

"Just the fact that we stayed focused for the entire match," Trumbauer said when asked what impressed him most. "They didn't have any long runs or a lot of points that ran off on long strings that could have affected the outcome of those games."

Two days after their victory over the Hornets, Parkland took down Emmaus once again to open play in the Koller Classic Invitational at Central York High School. During their championship run, the Trojans also defeated State College (25-23, 25-19), Derry (25-20, 25-21), Central York (25-23, 25-23), Chambersburg (25-16), Cumberland Valley (25-18), Derry (25-14) and Northeastern (26-24, 25-15). Four of those teams were ranked in the top five of Class AA or Class AAA teams in Pennsylvania.