It was just another match. Just like every other match against an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference opponent this season. The Emmaus boys volleyball team had taken down every league foe that it faced in 2017 and added one more to the total last Thursday night at Allen High School. But this one carried a bit more importance.

The Hornets swept Whitehall by scores of 25-16, 25-23, 25-21 and won the District 11 Class 3A championship last Thursday for their first title since 2013. They are 19-0 against EPC teams this year.

“It’s great,” said Hornet head coach Ken Dunkle. “The boys are excited they won, but not as excited as you would expect because they know this is not the end of the journey. We’re expecting to make a deep run into states, so they know they still have to work and they are going to be going for that state title.”

Just like they have done all season long, Emmaus used its power hitting and blocking with its front court players to cause problems all night.

Senior outside hitter Noah Bacon led the way with 11 kills. Junior outside hitter James Haag tallied 10 kills, while senior middle hitter Carson Landis added eight.

“We have a lot of guys with length, which is a huge advantage for us,” said Landis. “We all can hit, but we’ve been practicing blocking a lot throughout the season. We watched some film on them and where they like to hit the ball. It gave us a better idea of where to be, and we were able to make some key defensive stops to win some games.”

After winning the first game without much trouble, Whitehall showed in game two that it wasn’t going to go down easily. The Zephyrs took the Hornets to four games during their regular season match back in April.

Late in game two of last week’s district championship, Whitehall won six of seven points to get within one point. Dunkle called a timeout, which seemed to calm down his players as they recorded the next and final point to take the second game.

“Their crowd again was loud and into it, and that keyed their runs,” Landis said. “We were playing tentative somewhat, and trying not to make mistakes, but coach called a timeout and settled us down. That really helped to close it out.”

The Green Hornets kept a level head in the final game, and limited their mistakes. Defense was a big part of bringing it home.

Junior middle blocker Matt Swanson finished with four kills and three blocks, most of which happened in the latter part of the match when his team needed it most.

Landis, who was also a member of the league champion football team this year, can rejoice in helping to bring back district gold for the volleyball program.

“For us seniors going out, it’s an awesome experience,” said Landis. “We’ve had three good chances at this the last three years, but just didn’t get it done. So this one feels good, but we have more work to do to accomplish all of our goals.”

Junior setter Cam Parsons dished out 33 assists and had six digs, while senior libero Brendan Dunkle finished with 19 digs.

The PIAA state tournament began Tuesday, with Emmaus playing District 12’s second-place team LaSalle College High School. That match was played after Press deadline.