It’s a good thing medal ceremonies never get old for the Parkland Trojans, who three-peated as Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys volleyball champions with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-18, 25-15) victory over Whitehall on May 15 at Allen High School. “Seeing the smiles on the kids faces and knowing that this crew has received a lot of [medals] and they continue to push themselves to keep earning them, winning just builds into more winning, hopefully,” said Parkland coach Scott Trumbauer. “Knowing how we can play and the things we can do, we can lean on that.” Parkland middle hitter Luke Smith scored the first point of the match, and little did the Trojans know they would go on to score the next 14 points before Whitehall could get its offense started. “We went on a great serving run there by Will (Stiles). It was just electric,” Smith said. “Our serving put us in really good spots, and our setting and hitting was really awesome too.” Whitehall coach George Cowitch called a timeout with a 7-0 Parkland lead, but when the Trojans doubled that lead on two misjudged balls by the Zephyrs, Cowitch was forced to call a second timeout. “We played confident from the jump, and obviously, that kind of lead is not something you’re going to have happen, really ever,” said Trumbauer. “We’re fortunate it happened for us, not only because we built a lead but because we were error-free. We were not giving points away, and that was a big focus for us all year. When we don’t cause errors, we have nice runs, and that was a good example of that. We played well. “I think they seemed a little nervous, which is understandable. Everybody’s nervous in games like this.” Parkland outside hitter Josh Nation’s kill down the line ended the first set. The Zephyrs returned to the court for the second set, playing more like the last time they played the Trojans during the regular season, but were unable to sustain more than a two-point lead at any time. “We went to five sets with them and lost,” said Smith. “It was a big upset for us. We weren’t playing our A game, so today, our goal was to come out on fire and come out on top.” A block by Parkland opposite hitter Owen Rodgers began the Trojans’ charge toward a second-set win. “They weren’t able to run their offenses as well as they did last time,” said Nation, “and when we knew that we were getting Whitehall we worked a lot on how they play. They like to throw, so we worked on throws off of blocks and staying back on defense.” 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 as the Zephyrs fell back to their first-set ways. “It all starts with Will, our setter, pushing the ball out to the pin, and putting it in a spot where I can see the block in front of me, and then if I have the line open, turn and swing down,” said Nation. “It’s something we’ve been working on all year, being able to build leads and keeping them.” Nation clinched the match on a tremendous kill, and the Trojans were golden. “Josh attacks the ball really high and really fast, and it’s hard to play defense against that,” said Trumbauer. “He was taking advantage of what they were giving him, and I’m glad to see he was using his eyes and reading what was happening.” Parkland will enter the District 11 Class 3A playoffs as the top seed with a bye until their semifinal match scheduled for Thursday, May 23.