It had been since 2016 that the Parkland High School boys volleyball team had won an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title. It had another chance at it in 2021, and it’s opponent, Emmaus, had won back-to-back league titles the following two years. Unfortunately for the Trojans, a similar result happened last weekend.

The second seed Emmaus defeated number one seed 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 second seed Whitehall. The Hornets came back to take the next three.

Emmaus also lost 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.

“After we split the first two sets I said to the kids, no one expected this to be a 3-0 sweep,” said Parkland head coach Scott Trumbauer. “None of us wanted it to be another five-setter, but it’s always going to be evenly contested. Two good teams like that, it’s a couple small plays. At the end of the fifth set, we definitely got timid more so than we did when we played them at their place.”

The two teams met in the regular season finale just five days prior, a match that was won by Parkland.

The Trojans won the opening set on a kill by senior Mason Bergstein in a back-and-forth contest that saw 12 different ties and nine lead changes. But the Green Hornets found another gear. 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. The Trojans closed the fourth set strong winning 7 of the last 10 rallies to force the fifth set.

“They played with a lot of energy and really went after each point,” Trumbauer said. “They’re a great team and you have to give them credit for how they played.”

Parkland received the second seed in this week’s District 11 Class 3A Tournament. The Trojans will host the seventh seed, Liberty, on Thursday evening at Parkland High School.