Coaches never want to hear the saying "it was just nice to be there," but in the case of head coach Gwen Millets and her Emmaus girls volleyball team, they still took the positives out of a 3-0 loss to rival Parkland in the inaugural East Penn Conference final.

The Green Hornets were defeated 25-13, 25-22 and 25-18 last Thursday evening at Whitehall High School, but still looked at some of the good things that happened moving forward.

"It was an honor that we were able to play in the first East Penn Conference title game," said Millets. "They had the opportunity to play against Parkland and win a league championship. I'm proud of this team."

Like the last regular season match between the two teams almost two weeks ago, Parkland jumped ahead early with a dominating performance in the opening game. The Trojans raced out to an early 8-0 edge in game one, and kept pushing forward.

"It's hard to figure out," said Millets of the slow starts. "You try to come up with why it happened, but it's tough to figure out. I know they can play well with anybody. There were just too many errors, unforced errors, and we couldn't dig ourselves out of that hole."

But in games two and three, Emmaus was right in it throughout to the final point. Game two was back-and-forth, and Emmaus held a lead for successive points. But the Trojans tied it at 22, and scored on the next three possessions.

In the final game, the two teams traded points once again, but Parkland showed its championship caliber and pulled away for a seven-point victory.

"There was a lot we did better after that first game," said Millets. "Our serves and defense got stronger, and we had our hands up contesting a lot more. There are some areas we saw that we can capitalize on when playing Parkland. We can play with anybody, we just have to go out and do it."

There is no hanging their heads or feeling sorry for themselves, however. Emmaus was involved in the first EPC final and received medals. There are more games to be played, and the Green Hornets will look to get back to a second straight District 11 final. The journey begins Thursday evening at home against Easton.

First-team All-Conference performer Mackenzie O'Brien finished with 10 kills and 9 digs. Erin Stanton contributed 5 kills and 4 blocks, and Claire Swanson added 2 kills, 2 blocks, and 4 digs.