The Parkland High School girls volleyball team concludes its regular season portion of its schedule this week looking to finish undefeated. The Trojans have defeated teams in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, but also outside of the conference and even state along the way.

“We were able to play a good tournament schedule,” said head coach Mike Krause. “That allowed us to see some good teams outside our area, including good teams from outside the state. This allowed us to see different types of players and team’s offensive strengths. We played teams with incredible middle hitters. We played against tremendous setters. We played against some real good outside hitters, teams that blocked well and teams with outstanding ball control and defense. Playing these teams allowed us to identify our strengths and areas where we can improve. The girls saw what challenges were in front of us and were excited to work on them in practice.”

From the opening match to the final week of the regular season, Parkland (14-0 overall, 14-0 EPC) has improved and has worked on different parts of its overall game.

“We worked on some offensive strategies during these competitions to see if we were ready to implement them in a playoff environment,” Krause said. “We changed how we attacked in some areas. We also identified areas we felt pretty confident in during our serve receive, serve and defensive transition. We felt we really discovered our identity and how we will play moving forward.”

Krause knows the schedule his team plays is only going to help them moving forward into the postseason.

“We are so much better than we were in the first match of the season,” said Krause. “We know there are some good teams out there. This past weekend we won the 20-team Little Lion Invitational.

“We defeated the number one ranked team in the state in the 3A class in the finals. In the playoffs, we defeated the No. 2 team in 4A Unionville and the No. 6 team Hempfield. We also defeated the No. 9 team Shaler. Winning this tournament showed the character of this group. I look forward to seeing how it carries over to the postseason.”

After a road match at Whitehall, Parkland finishes the regular season at Emmaus on Thursday. The Trojans need to win both matches to qualify as the top seed in the EPC Tournament, which begins Saturday with the quarterfinals. Liberty is also undefeated in the conference at 14-0.