Hempfield, Conestoga Valley prepped and ready for L-L League volleyball championship showdown

May 13-There are only two undefeated teams in Lancaster-Lebanon League boys volleyball circles.

It's only fitting that those squads - in this corner, all-time league kingpin Hempfield, and in the other corner, upstart Conestoga Valley - will clash for L-L supremacy.

Section 1 champ Hempfield (14-0 overall) and Section 2 champ CV (17-0) are set to tangle on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ephrata Middle School for all of the league marbles.

This is old hat for the Black Knights, who will be making their 31st appearance in an L-L final. That is not a misprint. Hempfield owns 24 championships. That isn't, either.

CV is angling for its first league crown, and the Bucks are back in the title match for the first time since CV fell to Hempfield back in 2008.

That's a pretty long dry spell. But here are the Bucks, humming right along with a goose egg in the loss column. Now, they'll try and slay the league's Goliath.

Not with slings and stones. But by playing some clean volleyball.

"Yeah, we know all about Hempfield," CV coach Hunter Davis said. "They're a juggernaut. Just look at the wall."

That would be a wall full of championship banners hanging in Buchanan Gym in Landisville. It's actually been a couple of years since Hempfield hoisted an L-L championship trophy. The Knights last won league gold in 2021, which feels like eons ago.

So Hempfield is due. And coach Kenny Eiser and his Knights have certainly been playing championship-caliber volleyball as of late. They've only dropped three sets all spring, they're undefeated in non-tournament action, and they picked off reigning Class 2A district and state champ Manheim Central 3-0 in the semifinals on Monday.

Hempfield has also benefited from the return of setter Marcel Boyreau, who missed a bulk of the regular season while rehabbing a hand injury.

He has hit the court running in his return, setting up the likes of George Agadis, Mason Koehler, Cam Crawford, Chase Crawford and Spencer Troyer, who comprise Hempfield's imposing front row.

They are equal opportunity hitters and blockers.

"He can really set balls up on the outside, and with a fast tempo," Hempfield libero Ethan Ashba said about Boyreau. "That leaves blockers on the other side ... lost. He can really move the ball around."

And quickly.

"Their speed on offense really threw us off," Manheim Central coach Craig Dietrich said about Hempfield, after their semifinal showdown.

"When they go with the lower sets on the outside," he said, "it definitely causes a bunch of issues blocking-wise."

CV also has a very fine setter of its own. But his status for the title match is up in the air. Charlie Krcmar will likely be a game-time decision, after he took a tumble and suffered a lower right leg injury in the first set in the semifinals against Ephrata on Monday.

Krcmar spent the rest of the evening parked on the bench with an ice bag on his foot. He was last seen exiting Hempfield that night on crutches. The exchange student from Prague has had an excellent all-around season for the Bucks, who could definitely use him on the court.

The good news: Micah Sauder answered the bell off the bench for CV in its 3-1 win over Ephrata. He teed up 33 assists and served up a couple of aces against the Mounts.

"That team, even without Charlie," Ephrata coach Bob Witwer offered, "is still really good."

CV leans on Ashton Judy, Andy Bonhomme, Jordan Brubaker, Austin Zimmerman, Caleb Reiff and Hans Miller in the front row. Those guys can put up quite the wall. They can all slam kills, too.

"We'll be focused on their bigs, and they are big," Ashba said. "We'll have to get that block up and play good defense behind that. If they put one on the floor - and we know they can - we'll have to reset and come right back, and hopefully we can put one on the floor."

Like Hempfield, CV has only dropped a handful of sets this season - four, after Ephrata nabbed one on Monday - as the Bucks have enjoyed a resurgent season in Witmer.

It's Hempfield. It's CV. It's the L-L championship match. Someone is getting the happy ending and walking out of the gym with the gold trophy. The other squad will taste defeat for the first time this spring.

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This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 9:33 AM.