Whitehall’s boys volleyball team were awarded silver medals for their second-place finish to Parkland in the District XI Class 3A final on May 28 at Catasauqua High School and extended their season into the PIAA state tournament scheduled to begin next week.

“Third season now: regular season, postseason, now states season,” said Whitehall coach George Cowitch. “You’re down to the best 16 teams in the state of Pennsylvania, so to say that we’re there is a good thing, but we’ve been here seven times in the district final and only have two. We’d like to have more but the effort was there, so I’m proud of our guys in their effort.”

The Zephyrs won the first set against the Trojans, 25-21, but lost the next three, 24-26, 15-25, 25-27.

Jack Kocher scored the first point of the match with a kill to the corner, and a kill from Omar Tembo to the back line put the Zephyrs ahead, 7-4.

Ethan Ringenberger’s tip caught the Trojans off-guard, and Michael Rabih made a nice block before another kill by Tembo off a long rally.

Parkland called a timeout, only to have Tembo score three more times.

“It was nice,” said Cowitch. “They had no answer for him, and he did it pretty much the rest of the match.”

Ringenberger’s kill won the set after a nice save by Brandon Bird.

“Luckily, we’ve had situations where we dropped sets like that,” said Parkland coach Scott Trumbauer, “and sometimes by a lot more than that, and we were able to respond in the way that we want to.”

Parkland scored the first three points of the second set, but Whitehall took a semi-permanent lead at 11-8. Ringenberger kept the Zephyrs ahead with a point to the middle, and Tembo continued his attack to make the score 21-18.

The Trojans then brought the set within two points, and a missed Whitehall serve along with a miscommunication at the net added to Parkland’s win.

“Set 2, we had it, and then just gave it away,” Cowitch said. “Parkland just started playing volleyball the way they do.”

Whitehall jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third set, but Parkland inched back, only to take over, finding holes on the Zephyrs’ side of the net with Trojan Josh Nation getting to balls he wasn’t getting to earlier in the match.

“He struggled like crazy on defense tonight,” said Trumbauer. “It was eating him up, and that was affecting the rest of his play. When he’s reacting and making athletic plays, he’s unbelievable. Ahmad Jaffer had a dig on this side where he swung his arm and popped that ball up, and if that play doesn’t happen, then I don’t think we make the turnaround like we did.”

With a 19-16 Whitehall lead in the fourth set, Tembo couldn’t miss, and a block by Peter Tabarani and a tremendous kill from Kocher put the Zephyrs four points away from winning the set.

Then, with one point to go, Nation scored with a shot down the line, and a Whitehall error put the Trojans within reach.

Collectively, the Zephyrs dove and clawed for every ball, but a block by Trojan Owen Rodgers was the game winner.

Kocher had 20 kills and 23 digs, Tembo added 17 kills, Ringenberger tallied 14 kills and 26 assists, Drew Sodl had 22 assists and 19 digs, and Bird added 21 digs.

“We got a punch in the face, and then we came back and punched them, and then they made some good plays at the net at the end. It’s nothing that we didn’t do,” Cowitch said. “I can’t be upset with the effort. You know, that’s a school that’s two-and-a-half times bigger than us, and we’re right there with them, so I’m proud of our guys for that.”