It was the matchup that many Lehigh Valley high school girls volleyball fans were highly anticipating, a meeting of undefeated teams for a championship. There was a large crowd and the energy could be felt, but one team showed out better than the other.

Top-seeded Parkland took down second-seeded Liberty in straight sets by scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-22 last Thursday night in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title match at Whitehall High School.

It was the first matchup this year between the two teams and head coach Connor Swigart thought that the bright lights of the big match and the large crowd inside the gym may have affected his team.

“For some of them who haven’t been in these types of environments and these types of moments, they were playing not to lose,” said Swigart. “We have to be more aggressive. Basically tonight, every time we could have been a little bit more aggressive, I feel like we took the easy way out. Parkland, you can’t give them any more opportunities than they already are going to get.”

Set one had eight different ties until the Trojans (19-0 overall) went on a 5-0 run to push their lead to 18-13 as the opening set never got closer from there. Liberty (20-1) took an 8-5 advantage in the second set, but Parkland used another 5-0 run to take the lead back 15-10 and finish it off from there.

The Hurricanes had their best set of the night in the third set, climbing from behind to pull to within just one point at 23-22, but were unable to garner anymore from that point.

Parkland hadn’t dropped a single set all season and Liberty had only fallen in three sets overall, but the Trojans showed why they’re the three-time conference champions and top seed in the tournament.

“Coming into this, they were the number one seed for a reason,” Swigart said. “If you want to be an athlete, if you want to be a champion, the motivation is inherent. You shouldn’t have to be pushed at this point. I know the kids and I know they’re going to work hard. They’re going to do all the things that are necessary in order to get better.”

Liberty received the number three seed in this week’s District 11 4A Tournament and will host the sixth seed, Nazareth on Thursday afternoon. The winner will get the winner of second-seeded Southern Lehigh and seven-seeded Pleasant Valley on Tuesday.