You can say that it was a shocking experience for the Emmaus volleyball team in last week’s District 2/11 semifinals.

After sweeping Liberty in both of their contests this season, Emmaus got a taste of its own medicine, losing all three sets (25-21, 25-23, 25-2) to crash out of the district tournament prematurely.

“This is not what I hoped for and I think we made the mistake of looking past the team at hand,” said second-year head coach Ken Dunkle. “We swept them two times this year and I think the boys were looking down the road to Parkland and states.”

Dunkle may have been right in his postgame critique of the team, as the Hornets never seemed to have the same fire they generated in their sweep over Liberty in the East Penn Conference semifinals.

Dunkle knew that may have been a problem heading into the match with Liberty and saw the worst case scenario play out in front of his eyes.

“We cautioned the guys coming in that Liberty was a very capable team of beating us,” he said. “They wanted it more than our guys did.”

After leading 9-4 in the first set last week, the Hurricanes used a timeout that helped turn the tide to a victory. Dunkle felt that his team panicked after falling behind in the first set and never fully recovered.

“I was hoping that would light a fire in them, but instead they got worried,” said Dunkle. “We had too many unforced errors and mistakes in crucial times gave the game away.”

Trevor McLean led the Hornets with seven kills on the night, while Cameron Parsons added 24 assists. Brendan Dunkle also had 15 digs.

After a 15-3 campaign the team went through this spring, the Hornets were swept in two out of their final three matches of the season, losing to Parkland in the EPC finals followed by their defeat to Liberty last week, prompting Dunkle to reconsider some things going forward into next year.

“We didn’t have many pressure situations during the season, so as a coach I have to figure out ways to improve that,” he said. “It’s a tough loss and a tough way for our seniors to go out. We just have to use this as a lesson for next year.”