The Emmaus High School girls volleyball team entered the District 11 4A playoffs with a ton of positive momentum after winning the program’s first ever Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship the week before and earned the number one overall seed at districts.

The Hornets started their quest for a district title by taking down the eighth seed, Liberty, in four sets of a quarterfinal round match last Thursday evening at Emmaus. Scores of the match were 31-29, 25-21, 24-26, 25-22.

Each set was tightly contested and Emmaus had to play its best with the target on its back. It was the first meeting between the two teams this year.

Amanda Rivera led the attack with nine kills and added six digs and two blocks. Both Fiona Answini and Rosie Landino finished with eight kills with the latter adding eight digs and three blocks, and the former adding four digs and one block. Alyssa Heffner tallied seven kills, 27 assists, 14 digs and two blocks.

Claudia Walls recorded three kills, three digs and a team-best seven blocks. Emma Nesfeder totaled six blocks, three digs and two kills. Corrine Slivka had a team-high 18 digs and Haley Seidel added 14 digs.

Emmaus, which improved to 19-3 overall, took on the fifth seed, Nazareth, a 3-2 winner over the fourth seed, Pleasant Valley, in the semifinal round this past Tuesday night at Catasauqua High School.

The winner will play the victor of the other semifinal, second-seeded Freedom and third-seeded Parkland in the championship match Thursday night back at Catty. The Hornets and Blue Eagles did not meet in a conference match, but played in a tournament, with Emmaus winning 2-0. The Hornets defeated the Patriots in four sets during the regular season and split two matches with the Trojans, both went five sets.