It was an electric atmosphere inside Emmaus High School’s auxiliary gym last Thursday night. Not only were there two Eastern Pennsylvania Conference contenders playing against each other, but the game helped raise awareness for pediatric cancer.

In years past, the Green Hornets held a home match which they called “Dig Pink.” The name changed this year to “Spike Out Cancer.” The players wore pink or purple ribbons in their hair, and an Emmaus elementary student named Sam was honored before the match.

“September is known as pediatric cancer awareness month,” said head coach Gwen Millets. “All of the proceeds from the game go to the foundation PCFLV. I hand out information on all of the different types of pediatric cancers, and the girls make an informative poster. It’s just an awesome event to be a part of and I am glad that we continue to do this every year.”

The event was a success for the Emmaus girls volleyball team, and so was the match.

The Green Hornets (10-3 overall, 9-2 EPC) jumped out to an early lead, winning the first two games. They lost some of that momentum as the Vikettes took game three. Emmaus held on in a back-and-forth fourth game to win the match 3-1 by scores of 25-15, 25-11, 23-25, 25-22.

“Coming out and winning on a night like tonight was special,” said sophomore setter Caroline Bond. “We had a teammate who had cancer, and now she is one of our managers because she can’t play anymore. We came out tonight and played together and were playing for her. That’s a big deal for us to win.”

Bond finished with 39 assists and 17 digs. Her passes set up opportunities at the net that her teammates successfully hit home the majority of the time.

Georgia Traynor (11 kills, 12 digs, 3 svc aces), Alyson Bohman (8 kills, 4 digs), Macy Van Den Elzen (15 kills), and Adelina Rivera-Woolard (13 kills, 3 blocks) all had positive contributions while they attacked the net.

The Green Hornet hitters controlled the flow and tempo of the first two games, and were never really threatened as they used the momentum from the night and the crowd to pour on the points.

But Central wouldn’t go away, and avoided a sweep by taking a 23-23 tie, and scoring the next two points to win game three.

Just as it looked like things were turning in the Vikettes’ direction, Emmaus fought back in game four, keeping it close the whole way before taking over late. Down 16-15, the Green Hornets took back the lead, and never gave it up.

“There were a lot of people here for the spike out for cancer event, but it was a nice crowd for the game too,” noted Bond. “It felt like a playoff game, and both teams really wanted this one. We know a bunch of each other on each team, so there’s some friendly competition. They’re a very good team, and we knew we had to play our best to beat them. We kept our heads high and came out with a big win.”

Since a loss to Parkland on September 19, Emmaus has won five straight league matches.