The Emmaus boys volleyball team had little margin for error heading into the final two sets of the District 11 championship match.

Freedom had taken two of the first three sets and needed one more to win the title.

But the Hornets battled through not only a hard-fighting Patriot team, but also a few strange calls from the officials to take the final two games and win this year’s title, 3-2 last Tuesday evening at Catasauqua High School.

“I’m most proud of our relentlessness,” said Emmaus setter Ben Skekel. “We had won one set, then we lost two back to back. We’re saying ‘the game’s not over. There’s still time left. There’s two more sets.’ We were kind of down, but our coaches helped us get back up and keep our energy high and push through the last two sets.”

Emmaus won the first game 25-19 but dropped the second set 28-26 after a scoring discrepancy gave Freedom an extra point in the match.

With the Patriots leading the second set 21-20, a referee went to the scorer’s table and, after talking with the official scorekeeper, the scoreboard was changed to 22-20 in favor of Freedom. At least three members of the media who were keeping track of the score had the score at 21-20.

Emmaus kept the match close and had a 26-25 lead at one point, which would have been a 27-25 win if not for the mystery point awarded to Freedom, which eventually won the set to tie the match.

The Patriots then won the third set 25-19 and were one more win from taking the title.

Emmaus (20-1) battled back to take the next two games 25-22 and 15-13 to secure its second title this season after winning the East Penn Conference championship a few weeks ago.

“There’s nothing you can do about the call,” senior Lucas Mondin said of the Hornets’ mindset when trailing in the match. “Just push through adversity. There were a lot of challenges in the game. I don’t think any one player had a standout game except Grayson [Answini]. He played amazing.

“Everyone was a little off so pushing harder than ever before was our best attribute.”

Answini, a junior outside hitter, led Emmaus with 14 kills in the match, including the game-winning point in a tight fifth set.

Mondin made 11 kills in the match, while Christopher Mitchell had seven and Bilaal Kerim had six. Skekel, a junior setter, made six kills to go along with his 34 assists.

“It’s his first year setting,” said Mondin. “He’s really good for his first year. All the credit goes to him and his decision making.”

The feelings are mutual.

“I trust all these guys with every set,” said Skekel. “They all can get kills. It makes us more of an offensive team because all the blockers have to keep an eye on every single hitter.”

The district title is the 20th in program history and first for the Hornets since 2017.

While Emmaus is a perennial league and district playoff team and often a contender for titles, it hadn’t brought home a trophy since this year’s seniors were in middle school.

“It feels great,” said Mondin. “It feels good to be a senior and come back and win them.”

“I’ve been on this team since freshman year,” said Skekel. “Freshman year (2023) we lost in the finals in both (leagues and districts).

“Sophomore year we lost in semis in both. To get EPCs and districts this year, it feels like we really accomplished something we haven’t done in a while.”

The grit and determination the Hornets showed in the league title match is something Hornet head coach Jon Wilson has seen all year.

“What I’m most proud of has nothing to do with being on the court,” said Wilson. “They played fantastic. I’m just been truly blessed to have one of my most enjoyable volleyball seasons to date. I’ve been coaching for a long time. To walk next to these guys during this season has been an absolute blessing. I will relish it for a very, very long time.

“In terms of their play, I felt like we rallied together as a team. It was a fantastic team effort against a really hard-fighting Freedom team.”

Wilson was proud of the way his team battled through some tight matches and adversity with a district trophy on the line.

“Part of volleyball is just being able to let go of what you can’t control,” he said. “There’s a lot of subjectivity sometimes in the match. When the ball is in our control we just want to be good with it.”

Emmaus advances to the PIAA Class 3A playoffs to face District 3’s third-place team Governor Mifflin. That match was scheduled for Tuesday evening at Emmaus.