When the Emmaus High School boys volleyball team dropped its first match of the 2021 season against Whitehall back on April 9, the Green Hornets used that as motivation and have been on a roll ever since, winning nine matches in a row.

The most recent win came Monday evening at Easton Area High School where Emmaus took down the Red Rovers in straight sets to win the ninth straight match.

Head coach Ken Dunkle used that early loss as a learning tool for his team. It has seemed to work.

“The Whitehall match was a good litmus test of where we were as a team in the beginning of the season,” said Dunkle. “Whitehall is a well-rounded and disciplined team. The loss illustrated the areas where we need to be more disciplined in our play, balancing playing aggressively while still trying to minimize unforced errors. We have the talent on the team to compete for the district title, we just need to make sure we are playing disciplined and as a team to take on opponents like Whitehall or Parkland.”

The Green Hornets (13-1 overall, 11-1 EPC) have won nine consecutive matches since the Whitehall loss, including seven in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and two that were nonconference. Dunkle is pleased with his team’s response to adversity and their hard work.

“Given the loss of the season last year and the challenges with COVID this year, I am pretty happy with where we are at,” Dunkle said. “Growth comes through challenges and adversity, so I look at the early season loss to Whitehall as a positive thing.

“Since that match, we have been working hard to tighten up the areas we identified during the match. With the busy schedule we have had making up matches, we haven’t been able to have many practices, so a lot of it we have been working on during matches.”

Dunkle has liked the way his entire team has played as a whole, and there are some individuals that have stood out as well.

“I’ve been really impressed with how the team has come together this year,” said Dunkle. “We have a core of seniors that have played together for years, but we also have a lot of players that are not as experienced. The experienced guys have been doing a great job helping the newer guys get up to speed. Not only has this help the team bond, but I think it helps the experienced guys grow their skill set as well.

“I have found over the years that as well as you may think you know something, when you try to teach it, you improve even more. It makes you refocus on the fundamentals that you maybe take for granted or have drifted from and makes you think about why we do some of the things we do. Gannon [DeFrain] and Ben [Maskiell] have been doing a great job not only running the offense, but providing an additional offensive threat since we are running a 6-2 offense. Kyle [McKiernan] and Nick [Blose] have been providing a lot of offense on the pins, a big block, and solid passing as well. Haydn [Child] and Chris [Patel] have been providing a strong defense, strong serve receive, and aggressive serving that pushes the other teams out of system.”