Coming off a tough 3-2 loss to Nazareth (25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 16-25, 10-15) at the beginning of last week, the Emmaus girls volleyball team had hopes of rebounding from its first conference loss of the season.

The Hornets did so with a dominant performance two days later against Northampton divisional play in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s Skyline Division. The Hornets (4-1 overall, 4-1 in EPC) downed the Konkrete Kids (2-5 overall, 1-4 in EPC) in straight sets (25-14, 25-14, 25-10) on Thursday at Emmaus High School.

Two days prior to its convincing victory over Northampton, head coach Gwen Millets’ squad watched as Emmaus blew set leads of 1-0 and 2-1 against Nazareth. Unforced errors at the net and on the Hornets’ serves were a big factor in that loss.

But those mistakes were cleaned up against Northampton, and the Hornets seemed to have found their rhythm with their toughest match of the season up next.

“We saw the momentum swing over to Nazareth’s side more than our side,” Millets said. “You kind of work to get that momentum on your side, and sometimes it just doesn’t always happen. That’s how the game of volleyball goes. Unfortunately, we had too many service errors and blocking errors that prevented us from getting a little bit of a lead or even catching up.”

“I felt that our team, after the loss to Nazareth, it was difficult because we came in with high expectations,” senior libero Abby Moore said. “We started off strong and we kind of fell after that. We wanted to pick ourselves back up. Once we got this win, I feel like it really boosted our confidence a lot more.”

Sophomore middle hitter Adelina Rivera-Woolard, junior middle/outside hitter Alyson Bohman, senior outside hitter Megan Forstburg and senior setter Rebecca Houghton controlled the game at the net for Emmaus, each providing pivotal stretches throughout the match that made it tough for Northampton defenders to sustain any momentum.

Rivera-Woolard was just as dominant on defense, tallying countless blocks on K-Kid hitters.

“She [Rivera-Woolard] made a lot of progress in club season from last year to this year, and she really worked hard,” Millets said. “She is more aggressive. She is powerful. All of my girls are smart, so they know what they need to do and they work on that in the offseason.”

Houghton had two service aces in helping Emmaus jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. Northampton got to within 9-7, but Rivera-Woolard recorded three kills and two blocks over a stretch that pushed the Hornets’ advantage back to double digits (19-9) in the first set.

Freshman setter Caroline Bond helped Emmaus tally six straight points on serves after Northampton won the first point of the second set. Emmaus grew its lead to 16-6 minutes later and didn’t let it get back under double digits the rest of the way.

Holding a 6-3 advantage in the third set, Bohman recorded four service aces out of the next six points to give Emmaus a comfortable advantage at 12-3 before pulling away 25-10.

For a team that graduated five senior starters last year, and one that started a freshman and two sophomores against Northampton, Millets is pleased with the way the Hornets have responded.

“We’re still working on that communication piece, and we’re still gelling as a team,” Millets said. “The girls are coming along really well, so I’m happy with that.”

Waiting on the road ahead is Parkland, the heavily-favored squad to win both leagues and districts and return to the PIAA tournament for a chance at repeating as state champs. Parkland and Nazareth are the lone unbeaten teams remaining in the EPC at 5-0.

“I think we were able to come back together as a team and play together as one,” Moore said. “Instead of six individual players on the court, we played as one team together. We play Parkland next week, so I hope we can keep that up.”

Results from Tuesday’s rival matchup against Parkland were not available at press deadline. Emmaus travels to Pocono Mountain West on Thursday, varsity beginning at 5:30 p.m.