It looked to be a mismatch from the get-go. The height at the net for the Parkland girls volleyball team was a huge advantage for the Trojans both offensively and defensively in the 3-0 win last Tuesday night at Whitehall high school in the District 11 Class AAA semifinals. Parkland won by scores of 25-8, 25-10, and 25-13. These two teams are in the final four of the district nearly every year battling for the title. This year was no different.

“When you look at the successful programs in the district over the last couple of years, it’s always been Emmaus and Parkland at or near the top,” said Emmaus head coach Gwen Millets. “I’m proud of the way the girls fought tonight, and all year, but they have a good team over there and they made it tough for us tonight.”

Emmaus had a tough time earning points, or saving points on defense, against the defending state champs and top ranked team in the state rankings.

“They’re always tough at the net,” said Millets. “We do have a very good defensive team, but we over-analyze when we play Parkland. You want to anticipate, not over-analyze. Sometimes it’s too much and gets to us. We just need to relax and have fun playing the game. They know what they have to do, but they just think too much.”

Parkland used stretches where it piled on points against Emmaus and just put games away. Leading 15-8 in the first game, the Trojans ran off 10 consecutive points to take game one.

In the next game, eight straight points turned a six-point lead into a 14-point advantage and a 2-0 lead in the match.

As Millets noted after the game, a lot of balls that were hit over by Parkland were “ungettable.”

“They’re a hard-hitting team and they serve really well,” Millets stated. “We knew that and we worked on it at practice, but sometimes it’s just hard to even get to the ball when it’s hit that hard.”

Even in defeat, Millets can look back on another successful season with a younger team that advanced one match shy of the district final.

“I’m really happy with the season,” said Millets. “Sure I want to be in that finals match, but I don’t have any complaints. With what we did this year, I’m really happy with the girls and the way they played all year. You couldn’t ask for a better group of kids.”

Seniors Megan Forstburg (3 kills, 13 digs) and Rebecca Houghton (2 kills, 7 digs) had a combined 20 digs, and fellow senior Abigail Moore added 6 digs. Adelina Rivera-Woolard tallied 5 kills and 3 digs, and Alyson Bohman contributed 4 kills and 3 blocks.