Saturday’s match against Quakertown served as a good test for the Whitehall boys volleyball team who had to dig deep in order to come up with the win to stay undefeated.

It took them five sets to defeat the Panthers, the first time they’ve been stretched that long this season. It probably shouldn’t have gone that many sets considering the Zephs had little trouble disposing of the Panthers in the first two sets, winning by 12 points, and nine points, respectively.

Something happened, however, on the way to another sweep. The Panthers won the next two sets, forcing a deciding fifth set that served as a wake-up call for the undefeated Zephs who made sure that two was all the Panthers got as they won 15-6 in the final set.

That win helped preserve their unblemished record which currently stands at 5-0, putting them atop the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference standings along with Parkland and Emmaus.

Head coach George Cowitch believed that they got too complacent and that’s what led to Quakertown’s resurgence.

“I think they thought it was going to be easy,” said Cowitch.

Cowitch said that they scheduled Quakertown because they would be a good test for his talented team, but once Whitehall took a commanding 2-0 lead, they lost their focus. By the time the fifth set rolled around, the Zephyrs regained their earlier dominance, winning by nine points to close out the match.

Cowitch believed it served as a notice to his team that you can’t put any matches or sets on autopilot. It will be a beneficial lesson.

“I think it was a good thing,” said Cowitch. “We definitely learned from it.”

While the Zephs may have the capability to flip the switch when they need to win a point or a set, Cowitch wants them to maintain consistency throughout the match.

“We could turn the switch, but we always want to have it on,” said Cowitch.

With such an experienced lineup, the team didn’t panic. Cowitch said that these guys have been through a lot, and while it shouldn’t have gone that far, he was glad they were able to fight through that adversity and win when the match was on the line.

If that situation arises again, it will be important for them to finish the deal.

In the win, Logan McGinley had 26 kills and 17 digs. Joseph Herman had 15 kills, while Joey Maamari had 50 assists and 23 digs.

In their following match, the Zephs defeated Bethlehem Catholic 25-16, 25-15, 25-13. In the win, McGinley had nine kills and two blocks. Additionally, Herman had six kills and eight blocks, while Maamari had 4 kills, 20 assists and nine digs. Kyle Sayre had 10 digs in the win.

That win marked their fourth sweep of the season.

The Zephs are back in action this week with matches against Dieruff on Tuesday and Easton on Thursday.