Behind a big night from Cooper Henseler, the Emmaus boys volleyball team downed the Nazareth Blue Eagles in last week’s district semifinal. The Hornets had to battle from behind but sent themselves to the District 11 finals with a 3-1 win over Nazareth last week at Catasauqua High School.

Henseler put together big runs on serves and set up kills with his passing game throughout the night. The Hornets won 27-15, 24-26, 25-21, and 27-25. They dropped the second set by a score of.

“The intensity came down on the floor and when the intensity came down, we played poorly and when it came back, we played the game better,” said coach Jeff Elsea of what made the difference in the second set. “It was just a matter of keeping the intensity going.”

In the final two sets of the match, both teams used their defense to consistently break serve. Emmaus (18-3) showed a distinct advantage in play at the net. The Hornets saved the best for last in the third set as Brian Cobb took over on serves with the game at 21-21 and finished off the Eagles to give Emmaus a 2-1 lead in sets.

To close out the game, Emmaus had to dig deep and mount a comeback in the final set. Nazareth led early and pushed their lead to as many as four points at 19-15, but Emmaus took seven straight points to lead 22-19 when Logan Dougherty delivered a powerful kill.

The Eagles took their turn to battle back and moved to just two points down at 22-20. That is when Dougherty’s serve took over and Emmaus moved closer to putting the set and game away when they were up 22-19 and Emmaus eventually led 24-23 when they lost serve.

Nazareth’s Derek Perkins added a block and Jack Hasker’s kill made it 25-24 in favor of the Eagles, but Emmaus was able to regain control and the game went the Hornets way on a kill by Jonathan Cannone for a 26-24 win.

“We had to pick our energy up there at the end and know that our defense can get everything up,” said Dougherty. “I think it’s just a matter of the teamwork coming together, and it worked out in the end.”

Besides needing his team to show intensity, Elsea sees another factor to keep his team winning.

“We need to have fun. Keep the intensity up, but have fun,” said Elsea. “When we enjoy ourselves, we play well.”

In the other semifinal game, Parkland (19-0) downed Whitehall in straight sets with scores of 25-11, 25-19, and 25-16. The wins by Emmaus and Parkland set up the third meeting between the teams in four weeks, this time coming in the district championship.

This past Thursday night at Liberty High School, Parkland and Emmaus again met and the Trojans were able to sweep the Hornets by scores of 25-21, 25-18, and 25-23.

If you could only see one set of the three in the 3A finals, the third set would be the one to watch. Parkland went up early 4-0, moved it to 7-2 and held a seven-point advantage with an 11-4 lead.

Hornet junior Jametric Harris finally had enough and took over the game. After breaking Parkland’s serve, libero Kyle Long took over on serves for Emmaus. On the first serve, Harris ended a short volley with an emphatic kill and did the same on the next volley. With the score at 11-7, Parkland was looking for someone to step up but all they found was Harris going high above the net for a block as Emmaus continued to chip away at the lead.

Emmaus cut it to 11-10 on the next serve but Parkland then broke serve only to see Emmaus tie the game at 12-10. Parkland went up 12-11 and Luke Smith added a block, before another serve by Ahman Jaffer put the Trojans up 14-11.

Emmaus looked like a team on a mission and tied the game at 14. Eventually, Emmaus got the lead for the first time in the set when they went up 6-15. From there, the momentum seesawed back-and-forth, with both teams unable to keep service. The Hornets had their biggest lead of the set at 20-18 but could not push it any further than two points and Parkland eventually caught the Hornets and tied the game at 23. On a serve by Josh Nation, Chase Robbins had a kill on the volley to make it 24-23.

Elsea called timeout, but his team was unable to gain any momentum and Parkland went on to win the rally 25-23.

Their second-place finish in districts still gets Emmaus into states, but they will have a tougher road to the finals than will district champion Parkland. Emmaus earned a first-round game against District 2 champ Delaware Valley (15-1). That game was played Tuesday, after Press deadline.

Parkland opened its state tournament run Monday with a 3-0 win over District 3’s third-place team, Cedar Crest (17-4). The quarterfinal round will be held Saturday.