Whether it was a bout of bad luck or unnerving news from an opponents point of of view, the loss of Bethlehem Catholic's Lauren Hess before Monday's Lehigh Valley Conference volleyball semifinals was important.

Hess, who has been one of the area's top players all season, couldn't play because of an eye infection and the domino effect proceeded.

The Hawks, who swept Emmaus during the regular season, lost in three games Monday night 25-14, 25-23, 25-19 at Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium.

Becahi (15-3) was the second-seed, but third-seeded Emmaus (13-3) took control in each game as they sealed an LVC title match against Parkland (16-0) Wednesday night. The Trojans took down LVC wild card Central Catholic (12-4) in four games, 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 25-10.

For Hawks head coach Paul Abi-Daher, expectations of playing for the league title had been in the Hawks mind all year, but it wasn't meant to be with Hess out.

"It was obvious we didn't have the chemistry without her," said Abi-Daher of Hess' absence. "It disrupted our offense and defense without her in there. She wasn't in school and couldn't come to the match. It's unlucky and it's a huge loss for us. We've been playing all year with Lauren and she'll usually get 15 kills for us and it just wasn't meant to be tonight."

For Emmaus head coach Gwen Millets, the loss of Hess didn't affect how her team approached the contest since they were swept by the Hawks earlier this season.

"I thought we did a wonderful job and this was a great match where all our girls played together and communicated throughout," said Mittler. "I knew at the beginning of the match that Hess wasn't going to play, but that didn't matter to us. That team is tough. It didn't matter if Lauren was going to be out there or not, we had to play tough on every set."

Abi-Daher knew it was disappointing on the volleyball side of things Monday night, but hopes his team can turn the event into a positive.

"I want Lauren to recover to come back and finish her high school career with a championship," he said. "We still have districts and we still have states, so this shouldn't distract us from where our goals are."