The Emmaus High School boys volleyball team had tired legs. The Hornets knew it and felt it, but were not going to let that stop them from achieving their goal.

Following a five-set match victory over Whitehall less than 24 hours before, the Green Hornets were once again taken to the brink and once again they came out on top. Emmaus, the No. 3 seed for the tournament, defeated top-seeded Parkland 23-25, 25-21, 25-16, 21-25 and 15-12 last Saturday afternoon at Allentown Central Catholic High School’s Rockne Hall to win the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Championship.

Emmaus (22-2 overall) was taken to the brink Friday night, down two sets to zero against the second seed Whitehall, but came back to take the next three. The Green Hornets then fell in the opening set against the Trojans (18-2) the following afternoon, but took three of the next four to claim their first league crown since 2018 when they won back-to-back years.

Emmaus lost to Parkland in the regular season finale just five days before. So the win had many different positive feelings for the program.

“We just had to have a bunch of determination,” said Kyle McKiernan. “We played Parkland in the regular season and we lost that one in five, so to come in here and win in five just really meant a lot to us. We had to play with heart and a bunch of energy.”

McKiernan and Nick Blose were a tough one-two punch at the net. The duo combined for 40 kills, with Blose tallying 21 and McKiernan 19. They combined to score the Green Hornets’ final two points of the clinching fifth set.

“It means so much to us, but we’re not done yet,” McKiernan said. “It gives a lot of confidence knowing we can beat those top teams in the EPC, so I think if we just come in with that confidence, we should be good.”

The Trojans won the opening set in a back-and-forth contest that saw 12 different ties and nine lead changes. But the Green Hornets, fueled by their loud fan base in the arena, found another gear thereafter. Emmaus led by as many as six points (13-7) in the second set before Parkland tied it at 15-15. The Green Hornets, however, stormed back to score 10 of the next 16 points. They trailed just once in the third set, by one point.

“I think we had maybe a four- or five-point slide where we started forcing some things; we tried doing some crazy things that we don’t normally do,” said Emmaus head coach Ken Dunkle. “The message is really we don’t need to do that. We need to do the fundamentals, make sure that we’re covering like we should be, make sure we’re transitioning like we should be on hitting.”

Emmaus is now the top seed in this week’s District 11 Class 3A Tournament. The Green Hornets will take on the winner of Northampton and Easton in the semifinal round next Tuesday evening.