The Emmaus volleyball team was exactly where it hoped to be last Tuesday night as the PIAA Class 3A semifinals were being played. But when Saturday’s state final rolled around, the Hornets were not the ones on the court competing for the big prize as they had hoped all season long.

Emmaus fell in last week’s semifinal round, dropping a four-game match to District 3 champ Central York 22-25, 25-15, 25-23, 27-25. The Panthers went on to beat North Allegheny in four games for this year’s state title.

Emmaus’ season ended with the loss. The Hornets finished as league and district champions and were two wins away from earning that state title.

“I’ve been saying since the season started that we had the team to go deep into states,” said Hornet head coach Ken Dunkle. “We did. It would have been nice to go one more step but hats off to Central York. They played a great game.”

Central York trailed the Hornets early in all four games of the state semifinal match. But the Panthers never let the Hornets pull away.

In the first game, Emmaus had a four-point lead (16-12) before Central York came back and made it a one-point game (23-22) late in the contest. The Hornets scored two straight points, including an ace from Brendan Dunkle to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Panthers came back with a vengeance in the second game. After trailing 5-4 early, they took control of the game and built up a 23-12 lead before taking the set 25-15.

Emmaus led early in game three, pulling out to a 6-3 lead before the Panthers turned things around, scoring five straight points for an 8-6 lead. They didn’t trail again in the game en route to a 25-23 win in the game and a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth game showed how evenly matched the two state semifinalists were. After an early 7-3 Hornet lead, the Panthers tied the scored and neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way. It took more than the regulation 25 points to win it as Central York sealed the win by scoring the final two points for a 27-25 victory.

“It’s a great team,” said Ken Dunkle. “I don’t want to take anything away from them. There were times when we battled really well. Then there were other times, like the end of [the fourth game], where we played a little bit too conservative.

“Against a team like this you have to bring it pretty much the whole time.

“It’s tough. It’s that mentality that you don’t want to make a mistake. I get it. You also have to remember what got us here and trusting your ability and trusting your teammates.”

The loss was the first of the season for the Hornets (23-1).

“I’m still proud of the guys,” said Ken Dunkle. “We had a great season. We went deep into states, which is what our goal was.

“I don’t want to say I’m disappointed in them. I feel bad for them because I know they’re capable of beating this team. I don’t know that they felt they were at all times. I’m super proud of them. I’m not disappointed in them.”

The team graduates several key players from this season, including two first-team All-Eastern Pennsylvania Conference players in libero Brendan Dunkle and middle hitter Carson Landis. Also graduating is All-EPC second team player Noah Bacon, an outside hitter.

“They’ve been phenomenal,” said Ken Dunkle of this year’s senior class. “All the starters have been doing a great job all year. Having Noah Bacon this year was huge. That gave us a big outside presence. Brendan’s been doing a fantastic job keeping the ball off the floor. He’s going to be tough to replace, as are all the seniors.”

At the same time, Emmaus has a solid core of players returning. Next year’s team will return league MVP Cameron Parsons at setter and first team All-EPC outside hitter James Haag.

“We definitely have players to fill the positions,” said Ken Dunkle. “But we definitely have work to do to get to this level.”