It was a goal of the Parkland High School boys volleyball program for the last six years, even more so since last year.

After falling in five sets to rival Emmaus in the 2021 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship match, the Trojans did not want to experience the same fate this year. Third-seeded Parkland made sure of that and defeated the top seed, Northampton, in four sets last Friday night by scores of 25-18, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21 to win the EPC title at Allen High School.

It was the first conference crown for the Trojans since 2016.

“It felt really amazing,” said Chase Robbins. “All of this, the crowd, the medals, it’s a great time. We were hyped for this one since we lost EPC’s back in 2021. It feels really amazing. Since we lost in 2021, we really wanted to win this one.”

Robbins, who finished with 21 kills and 20 assists, had the game-winning kill for Parkland (17-4 overall) in the fourth set that sent his team home with a victory. Head coach Scott Trumbauer knows how special of a player Robbins is.

“He’s one of the top players in the area, without a doubt,” Trumbauer said. “I was on his case hard on the few errors that he had tonight because I know he can perform at a flawless level. He performed at a near-flawless level and it was really important for us.”

Parkland held control for most of the first and second sets and never seriously faced adversity. After falling in the third set, however, the Trojans saw themselves in a one-point set in the fourth, and did not want to have to play in a fifth and deciding set.

Leading 20-19, Trumbauer called timeout and then his team rallied for five of the next six points to secure the match win over the Kids (18-2).

“Just being able to fight off their good run in the third set and push in the fourth set was just a credit to the guys and their mindset of wanting to earn this, especially because we lost last year,” said Trumbauer.

Adam Pursell tallied five kills and four blocks while sophomore middle hitter Luke Smith added seven kills and four blocks. Matt Bauer recorded 12 kills, Lukas Dashukewich had nine kills, Azhar Sumar notched 16 digs and Will Stiles contributed 27 assists.

Parkland is the top seed in the District 11 3A tournament and will take on the winner of fourth seed Freedom and fifth seed Emmaus in the semifinals.