For the second time in as many weeks, the Parkland High School girls volleyball team defeated rival Emmaus in straight sets, finishing the regular season unbeaten in both matches played and sets played overall. The win over the Green Hornets last Thursday night was the season finale and gave head coach Mike Krause’s group an unblemished mark heading into the postseason.

“I think our schedule we played outside the league was very helpful,” said Krause. “It helped prepare us for the postseason. We played our regular season out with a home game senior event. I think that went well allowing all nine seniors making a valuable contribution to their last home game. We had some adjustments with our rotations and roster. We were still able to get a 3-0 victory completing the regular season 17-0 in match play and 48-0 sets. To go 48-0 shows how well the girls maintained a consistent level of play.”

Less than 48 hours later, Parkland was competing in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Tournament as the top seed. The Trojans took down the eighth seed, Pleasant Valley in the quarterfinal round on Saturday, 3-0.

“Pleasant Valley played great defense,” Krause said. “They challenged our hitting with a very solid block. It showed we need to work on our block coverage as we move forward. I think our passing was very solid. We played some pretty solid defense too. Pleasant Valley won their division and played with great passion. It showed our team how the level of play in the postseason will be increasing. It makes the challenges a lot of fun to measure how good we need to be to compete against any opponent.”

Parkland will look to advance to the EPC title match on Thursday night after a semifinal matchup against Bethlehem Catholic. Krause is hoping for similar performances out of his group.

“Our middles played really well,” said Krause. “Elena [Pursell] offensively hit extremely well. She was connecting with Maggie [Smith] in a variety of types of sets. Elena was 14 for 17 without any errors. She was hitting her spots with her attacks and located her off speed shots perfectly and at the right time. Luci’s [Shellock-Torruella] timing on her blocks and her reads were consistent throughout the match. She has improved her arm speed on her attack while directing the ball to the areas the defense is giving. Maggie is doing a good job of her decision making on how and when to use the middles. Scarlett [Jago] was passing the ball extremely accurately. Her defensive discipline positioned her to make defensive plays against the hard attack, the off speed and the tip. I like the rhythm she has developed with her defensive movements.”