The Emmaus girls volleyball team had found its groove. After losing three of their first four matches of the regular season under first-year head coach Brianne Giangiobbe, the Hornets were on a roll, winning their next eight matches.

But the recent surge ended last Thursday night, albeit competitively, as Emmaus dropped its first match since September 6, losing to Central Catholic in straight sets at Rockne Hall, 25-23, 25-8 and 28-26.

There was a lot of energy in the historic gymnasium and it felt like a playoff match, featuring two of the top teams in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District 11, albeit in different classifications.

“It’s good to see atmospheres like this for girls volleyball,” said Giangiobbe. “We experience this in our gym every game and we had this at Parkland, so we’re used to it. It gets the girls motivated to play harder.”

Both the first and third sets went right down to the wire with both teams exchanging blows and either could’ve come away with the victory. The four-time defending District 11 Class 3A champion Vikettes (10-1 overall, 10-1 EPC) just got the better of the Green Hornets (9-4, 9-2) on the night in front of their home crowd.

“It was a very competitive match between two good teams,” Giangiobbe said. “We’ll see them again.”

Central was able to hold on in both the first and third sets because of its athletic hitters at the net and the defense behind them. Anytime the Hornets looked poised to record a kill on their offensive end, the Vikettes were there for the dig.

Senior Macy Van Den Elzen led the way for Emmaus with six kills. Junior Jaya Bhagat had five kills, but that duo was about as much as the Green Hornets would get at net as both Maiah Sabol and Mackenzie Krasley each added two kills. Lily Johnson contributed four blocks and Kassidy Hallman (eight) and Alice Frank (six) combined for 14 assists. Defensively, Bhagat had a team-high 15 digs, while Kelsie Baus finished with 10.

Emmaus plays just two matches this week, both of which are inside Emmaus High School. It hosted Northampton yesterday and will play rival Parkland Thursday at 6:15 p.m.