The Emmaus volleyball team has been dealing with injuries to some of its starters over the course of a few games this season. Sophomore outside hitter Georgia Traynor is back after missing some time, but fellow sophomore middle hitter Adelina Rivera-Woolard was still out when the Green Hornets squared off in a pivotal East Penn Conference match up with Whitehall last Thursday night at Emmaus High School. Those are two key players at the front of the net for Emmaus, but others stepped up their games.

Senior outside hitter Megan Forstburg finished with 14 kills and 16 digs, and junior middle hitter Alyson Bohman tallied a team-high18 kills in leading the Green Hornets past the Zephyrs 25-19, 20-25, 25-20, 25-18 in a back-and-forth contest.

“We communicated a lot with our setter (Caroline Bond), who had a great game and some amazing sets for us,” Bohman said. “Megan and I just kept moving back and forth and switching up positions, which really helped us at the net.”

In a tight match where each of the four games was decided by seven points or less, the play up front from Emmaus was the deciding factor.

Along with Forstburg and Bohman, Traynor contributed 9 kills and 13 digs, and Rebecca Houghton had 5 kills and 11 digs. But the Hornet defense also helped keep Whitehall at bay.

“We really depended a lot on our defense,” Forstburg said. “We knew they had great hitters and we practiced our digs and blocks in practice. Alyson and I knew we were going to be depended on to put the ball away when it came to us. It’s just about good communication, and we did that tonight.”

All of the offense for the Hornets ran through first-year setter and freshman Caroline Bond, who finished with 40 assists.

Emmaus was strong in game one, but Whitehall bounced back and took game two and gained some momentum. The Zephyrs led game three 4-0 before the Green Hornets rallied back. There were three ties including one at 19-19, but Emmaus scored the next four and six of the next seven points and held on for a 25-20 win.

Emmaus followed that with a strong showing in game four and led by no less than three points in taking the finale.

After a loss to Parkland two weeks ago, one of only two losses in the league thus far, the Emmaus has bounced back with four straight wins.

“We learned a lot that night,” said Forstburg. “It was only our second loss, so we went back to practice and focused on what we had to do to make it right. We took that loss hard. We regrouped as a team and that helped us out this week.”