It’s not often that the Parkland girls volleyball team loses an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference match, let alone a single game in the best-of-five match. But last Tuesday night’s clash against Emmaus was a hard-fought match.

The Trojans were nearly taken to the brink, and could have easily lost the first two games.

The defending state champs made the plays when they had to and put the Green Hornets away in the fourth game to win the match 3-1 by scores of 28-26, 25-21, 20-25, and 25-19 at Emmaus High School.

Parkland (13-0 overall, 13-0 EPC) remained undefeated in the league, but it had to battle and give everything to finish off Emmaus (11-4 overall, 10-3 EPC) in the Horents’ home gym. It was the second time the two teams met this year, with Parkland also winning the first but doing it in three sets.

“I thought it was a really great match,” said Emmaus head coach Gwen Millets. “I’m happy with the way we played tonight. Compared to the last [Parkland] match.

“Defense was excellent. The service was great. Blocking was better. Each part of our game was better.”

It showed just how bad the Green Hornets wanted to knock off the Trojans, a team they haven’t had much success with in recent years. During the first two games, Emmaus held leads late, but were unable to hold on as the Parkland hitters powered home shot after shot into the ground.

“Defense has always been the focal point of our program every year,” added Millets. “We were ready for them, I just wish it would’ve been a different outcome.”

The Green Hornets finally got one, however, jumping ahead in game three, and holding leads of as much as six, to take game three.

With a game five in the balance, Parkland needed to take back the momentum and end the match before it reaches the final game. With 22 kills from senior Sam Graver, the Trojans were able to do just that.

“There were just some unforced errors that we had that let them get back into the games,” noted Millets. “We had some leads, and then they came back because of some of our errors. That’s something we always talk about improving. These experiences they just need to work on when they see them. They just need to stick by each other each and every point.”

Macy Van Den Elzen (13 kills, 5 digs) and Adelina Rivera-Woolard (11 kills, 4 blocks) were forces at the net and gave the Trojan defense fits with their powerful hitting.

Caroline Bond (36 assists, 3 kills, 4 blocks, 11 digs, and 2 service aces) continuously set up her teammates in a position to get a good hit on the ball. Georgia Traynor tallied 6 kills and 19 digs. Natalie Trexler finished with 4 kills and 5 digs. Tiffany Hoppes had 21 digs and Rebecca Dalstad contributed 11 digs.