Things don't always work out as they're planned in sports, but in Monday's Lehigh Valley Conference volleyball semifinals, that certainly was the case.

Emmaus battled through some early struggles to knock off Bethlehem Catholic (25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 25-13) in four games, while Parkland moved through Central Catholic in a clean sweep to pair the two suburban rivals in tonight's LVC championship at Dieruff.

Emmaus head coach Gwen Millets was happy to see her team pull away from the Hawks and was looking forward at another shot at competing for the LVC title.

"We'll be ready for Parkland," said Millets of the Trojans, who dealt the Hornets their only loss in LVC action this year by a 3-0 sweep. "I think revenge is always something that teams think about, but they are our rivals right on Cedar Crest and we want to play that big rival, but we can only play who's in front of us. We're not afraid of them to say the least."

Becahi (12-7) had their moments in the first two games Monday, keeping things close in the first game, until they finally broke through in the second game with a win.

However, the Hornets blew open a tight 20-18 score in game three and ended on a 5-1 run to suck the air out of Becahi's balloon. Emmaus dominated the fourth and final game, as Becahi seemed to be mentally deflated, while committing too many errors on the court.

"Volleyball is a game of momentum and we had it after the second game," said Hawks' head coach Paul Abi-Daher. "They [Emmaus] made some good adjustments against us in the third game, but we made too many errors in the fourth game,

"Fortunately, we're in the same position we were in a year ago, where we lost to Emmaus in the LVC playoffs and still went on to win districts and advance to states. That's our same goal this year."

Allie Traynor had 11 kills and 15 assists for the Hornets. Rebecca Houghton had 41 assists and 15 digs.

Emmaus (16-1) now hopes it can reverse its fortune from last year's loss in the LVC championship.

"I can't stress it enough, it's all about teamwork," Millets said. "We talk about it at every timeout. It's something you can't coach. You just hope that they go out and do it and we're going to need to do in the championship."