The Whitehall Zephyrs were Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys volleyball silver medalists after their tournament finals match against Parkland, who won, 3-0 (25-9, 25-18, 25-15), on May 15 at William Allen High School.

The Zephyrs had an uncharacteristically slow start, as the Trojans went on a long serving run by Will Stiles during which Whitehall coach George Cowitch called two timeouts.

“We were ready. We were prepared,” said Cowitch. “I just think the moment got too big for some guys, which is upsetting because we’ve played in big moments in big matches, so I don’t know what happened there.”

In addition, Whitehall won their match against Parkland during the regular season.

“We’ve got to be better. We have two guys that played not scared, and everybody else played scared. That just can’t happen,” Cowitch said. “We won’t let that happen again. Trust me on that one.”

The Zephyrs returned to the court for the second set playing more like themselves.

Drew Sodl pulled a ball out of the net, Brandon Bird had two digs, and Jack Kocher’s kill put the Zephyrs ahead, 4-3. Back-to-back kills by Omar Tembo and Ethan Ringenberger made the score, 7-5.

Later in the set, however, a block by Parkland opposite hitter Owen Rodgers began the Trojans’ charge toward a second-set win.

Whitehall middle hitter Peter Tabarani scored the first point of the third set, but Nation’s kill down the line and a cross-court kill by Rodgers started the barrage of points by the Trojans to which the Zephyrs didn’t respond.

“They just wanted it more than we did,” Cowitch said. “They outplayed us. That’s the unfortunate part because I truly believe that we’re as good as they are. That should’ve been a coin-toss match. It should’ve gone to five. It didn’t. The good thing is we’re on the other side of the bracket from them to get to the (district) final, so if we can figure that out, we can get another shot at them.”

The District XI Class 3A Boys Volleyball Tournament is scheduled to begin this week when Whitehall will have taken on Freedom in a quarterfinal match on May 21.