The Emmaus High School boys volleyball team has had a perfect 2023 regular season to date. The Hornets won a pair of matches last week to improve to 8-0 overall and 6-0 in Eastern Pennsylvania Conference matches.

Emmaus defeated Pocono Mountain West in straight sets last Tuesday, April 11, by scores of 25-8, 25-15, 25-10, and then went on the road and took down Nazareth 3-1 last Thursday, by scores of 25-15, 25-17, 23-25, 25-21.

“The start of the season has gone much better than expected,” said Hornet head coach Jeff Elsea. “They all have incredible drive and it shows. They are hungry for redemption from last year. They all feel we could have done better and are working hard to keep the course. These boys have played together in school and out of school for the most part. They know each other well and know the strengths and weaknesses and try to work within the limits of each individual. Because of this they were able to just build on this foundation.”

Against the Panthers, Ben Skekel, Cooper Henseler, Jametric Harris and Lucas Mondin all finished with four kills for the Emmaus attack, with Henseler adding 16 assists. Logan Dougherty and Zach Baus each had three digs.

In the match with the Blue Eagles, four different Green Hornets reached double digits in kills. Harris and Dougherty led the way with 13 kills. Johnny Cannone tallied 12 and Cael Kratzer had 10. Henseler contributed 48 assists, while Baus totaled 26 digs.

There have been a few standouts for the team including Henseler, Dougherty, Harris and Baus.

“Cooper Henseler is most likely going to hit a milestone this year with 1,000 assists,” Elsea said. “He has started to take an active leadership role, which is fantastic. Logan Dougherty and Jametric Harris are also going to most likely hit milestones with 500 kills and their current leadership roles are instrumental in the team’s success. Zach Baus is another one who most likely will hit a milestone of 500 digs and his leadership on the defensive side has helped us where we struggled last year.”

Emmaus had a nonconference match at Central Bucks West this past Monday and then hosts Northampton on Wednesday and Dieruff Friday in two EPC matches.

“The next 2-3 weeks is going to be a good test in showing where additional work is needed,” said Elsea. “I would like to see the team continue to build on what they already have and hopefully put us in a great position going into the post season.”