It appears no one is safe from an Alex Khouri spike so anyone inside the gym when his arm swings forward better be on high alert.

Pocono Mountain East head coach Nate Becker found that out firsthand when a Khouri howitzer careened off his leg, sending him hopping backward toward their bench from the ball’s furious impact. He had been standing on the sideline, the same side where Khouri was positioned on the left side of the court when the blast bounced off him. Khouri’s quick arm swing can generate a lot of pace on the ball, and he used that whip effectively throughout the match against Pocono Mountain East last Thursday.

That kill was one of 12 registered by Khouri in their sweep of Cardinals, 25-11, 25-15, 25-12. The win now puts them at 9-1 on the season, well positioned for another playoff appearance.

Whitehall was extremely successful setting the ball for their middle hitters, getting a number of kills from sets that looked as if they were placed on a tee ready for Khouri or Dylan McGinley to hammer them home.

“We’ve been working on that, we haven’t been setting the middle well,” said head coach George Cowitch. “We’ve been working with Ricky [Melosky] and our middles, and we’re passing the ball so well, and we want to run through the middles first, and then work to our outside. Every time we can get a pass, if we can get to them, they’re doing really well with that.”

Cowitch said that it’s sometimes a tough thing to do, and it’s something they should be doing against teams who give them a lane to do it.

That success starts with Ricky Melosky delivering the ball to their hitters so they can easily convert those passes into points. He finished the match with 34 assists.

“I thought Ricky made some nice sets tonight, and it showed,” said Cowitch.

Cowitch said that Melosky is coming along in his role as the setter, this being his first year in that position. He believes that his progression is right on track and will combine to trend that way as they get ready to make another deep postseason run.

Outside hitter Ethan Parvel believes this team’s chemistry has played a key role in their success. They have a familiarity with one another that began much earlier.

“It’s been going really well,” said Parvel. “It’s a bunch of guys in the same grade who grew up playing volleyball together. It’s been the same team pretty much since middle school. So we’re right there with our chemistry.”

Parvel had nine kills from the left side. Parvel, a right-handed hitter, said that playing the left side becomes almost second nature because of the time they spend preparing.

“We just work on it so much in practice, anything that you can possibly do with the ball, I’m comfortable with,” said Parvel.

Parvel was also strong defensively at the net, registering a number of blocks. While they were able to disrupt the Cardinals offense at the net, he said that their success in the middle was predicated on speed.

“Quick hitters, quick sets like that, it makes it hard to block, especially double blocks,” said Parvel. “In the middle you mainly want to double block, and we’re trying to get quicker and go faster.”

On a number of occasions, the Cardinals were successful using Whitehall’s aggressiveness at the net against them, scoring points with tips that sailed over double blocks for points. Pavel said they must guard against that.

“It is bad to be too aggressive at times,” said Parvel. “Coaches preach be aggressive, but be the right way about it, because if you’re too aggressive, you’re going to mess up. You have to be smart.”

Joe Herman had a strong floor game for the Zephyrs, finishing with nine kills. Additionally, Aziz Atiyeh had 13 digs.

With the season past the halfway point, Cowitch likes where they stand.

“I like where we’re at,” said Cowitch. “We have some things to clean up offensively. We’re missing some of our guys, some of our hitters, just a confidence thing. It’s not like they can’t do it, but if you want to beat a team like Emmaus, you have to be able to click, every hitter, not just two or three.”