The Emmaus volleyball team, 3-1 winners over Pottsville in the first round of districts, were forced to play defending state champion Parkland shorthanded in the District 11 semifinals. Senior setter Lisa Wallitsch, a three-time all-LVC selection, suffered a mild concussion during the first round game and was forced to sit out for precautionary reasons.

The feisty Green Hornets team never seemed to lose a beat in the absence of Wallitsch, but the Trojans were just a little too much to overcome and eliminated Emmaus 25-12, 25-14, 25-18 at Whitehall High School last Thursday night.

"We got the news yesterday," head coach Gwen Millets said about Wallitsch. "It was a very positive response that they understood that Lisa wanted to be out there, but they rallied around her. It was a great team effort of support and love. They just rallied around one and another to make everybody feel good about the situation."

After losing the first game, a raucous crowd supporting Emmaus (15-5) helped to fuel some energy into the Green Hornets. They took their first lead of the night at 4-3, and the front line of Corinne Justus, Alexandra Traynor and Mackenzie O'Brien stood tall and made some nice blocks of attempted kills by Penn State-bound Kelly Robertson that brought the crowd into a frenzy.

Freshman Rebecca Houghton stepped in to try to fill the void left by Wallitsch. She did a fine job running the offense and had the support of her teammates and coaches.

The Green Hornets made the undefeated Trojans work for every point they got and Millets noted that it was just a couple of mistakes that hurt Emmaus during the match.

The Green Hornets are relatively young and bring back a big chunk of their roster that saw vital varsity minutes this year. They lose five seniors to graduation, including Wallitsch who has recorded over 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs in her four-year career. The other seniors from this year's team were Megan Beauchner, Adrea Cope, Kerry Kirchner, Kiley Schlosser and Brenna Smudde.