The Emmaus volleyball team was put in a hole, one that it had to climb out of desperately. Coming off a conference loss to Central Catholic 3-2 just three days before, the Green Hornets again were challenged in the East Penn Conference.

The Nazareth Blue Eagles came out like their season was on the line, and played every point hard and to the whistle.

Nazareth took game one and played with a lot of energy in almost winning every game, but Emmaus would not go down for a second match in a row and came back to win three straight, taking the match 3-1 by scores of 23-25, 25-23, 26-24, and 25-16 last Monday night at Emmaus high school.

It was a big win for the Green Hornets, not only battling back, but for their shot at league playoffs and district seeding.

"I think it was really important for us because we needed to get going towards districts," said Megan Forstburg. "It was more of a confidence booster after we lost to Central, which is obviously a big rival. Coming back and winning this match was big for us."

Each game was back-and-forth, but none more than game one. The teams traded leads four times, and the biggest edge was only six points, when Emmaus led 12-6.

The Green Hornets went down by as much as three at 22-19, but fought back to tie the game at 23. After a Blue Eagles time out, the next two points scored went to Nazareth as they shocked Emmaus and celebrated a surprise start.

Game two was much of the same, but this time the Green Hornets never trailed and were able to tie up the match.

Emmaus (9-2) fell into another hole the next game, trailing 7-0 right off the bat. The Hornets were down as late as 24-21, but scored five straight and took back all of the momentum from Nazareth.

Everything was going Emmaus' way at that point, and all the Hornets had to do was put the Blue Eagles away in game four, which is just what they did. They never trailed en route to a 25-16 win in the final game.

"We just needed more confidence on the court, and had to communicate better," said Forstburg. "We seem to always struggle in the first game, but pick it up in the next games. As soon as we pick up the communication we do a lot better."

Emmaus now hopes to use this as motivation with five games left, including two against the only teams to defeat them this year in Parkland (10/3) and Central Catholic (10/8).

"We need to do well in these next couple of games to help us for playoffs," said Forstburg. "We want to have an easier time in leagues and districts to start. If we push ourselves I know we can do well against those teams."