It’s only fitting that the top two volleyball teams in the area get to play each other for the district championship this week.

Parkland and Freedom, the one and two seeds in the 4A tournament, will battle for the district title tonight at 6 p.m. at Catasauqua.

The Pates (20-2) are looking for their first district championship since 2003, while Parkland (21-0) has won seven-straight district championships coming into the postseason.

Freedom lost its only matchup to Parkland this season 3-1 back on Sep. 22, but after taking down Emmaus in four games in last week’s district semifinals, the Pates are brimming with confidence.

“The Emmaus win gave us that revenge match we wanted after losing to them in the conference semifinals,” said Freedom head coach Donna Roman. “We look at the Parkland match with the same level of revenge for our only regular season loss. How we dealt with Emmaus certainly gives us a lot of confidence and determination. They are a very strong team and that match made us work really hard for every point. Their defense picked up so much, and we know Parkland has one of the strongest defenses in the league.”

Roman knows that Parkland is a juggernaut, but Liberty (12-7) gave the Trojans all they could in the semifinals, despite losing in four tough games.

The Pates will need to play their best game of the year if they want to dethrone the champions and Roman certainly knows that.

“Parkland is an incredibly strong team offensively and defensively,” she said. “The keys to beating them will be solid defense and serve receive, and aggressive serving. We need to know that we will not get any easy kills against them, so we have to be patient and keep striking until we can find the floor.

“Based on playing Parkland in the regular season, we learned that no lead is too large. They are always a threat and it is important for us to be aware and not allow them to get any runs. Sets two and three were 25-23 scores, first for us and then against us. If we held on to set three, perhaps the outcome of the match changes. There is no time to ease up while playing such a tough and well-coached team like Parkland.”

Bethlehem Catholic (14-4) has swept their way through the District 11 3A bracket, as they beat Lehighton in the quarters and took care of Southern Lehigh in the semifinals.

They now face top-seeded Pottsville (19-0) in tonight’s 6 p.m. finals at Lehighton to defend their district crown from a year ago and get back into the state tournament.