Bethlehem Catholic’s volleyball team made it a District XI Class 3A title three-peat when they defeated Allentown Central Catholic, 3-1, last Thursday at Catasauqua High School.

The Golden Hawks made it look easy early on, winning the first set, 25-12, but Becahi wasn’t taking anything for granted.

“We lost to Central (in the regular season) pretty bad,” said Becahi senior Dhanica Babelonia, clearly emotional after the awards ceremony. “We thought we were winning the last time we played them. We had the energy and then everything just died down, so we knew what we had to do.”

After winning the second set, 25-22, Becahi stumbled in the third and lost, 23-25.

“Our serve-receive was getting a little rocky there,” said Becahi Coach Kelly Brown. “Toward the end, we finally picked it up, and I think we were really focused until the third game.”

Anna Quinn’s kill to the back corner, followed by a tip over the net put the Vikettes ahead, 19-17. Then, after a long volley, Kyla Rodriguez regained the lead for the Hawks.

Central came back to tie, 21-21, and as points were exchanged, the Vikettes held on for the win on an out of bounds ball from Becahi.

“It’s do or die. That’s what we kept saying in each huddle. Every point we lost, we were like, do or die, do or die, and we said there’s so many people here, so let’s make this count,” Babelonia said. “We knew they had big hitters and big blocks. We knew their spots, short, deep, whatever they did, but they were pushing deep. They weren’t even hitting hard.”

The Vikettes rolled their momentum into the fourth set, taking the first three points.

“We’re not the luckiest team when it comes to five, so we actually focused on that fourth set. We did a very good job finding holes on their side of the court, which, first time we played them, we weren’t able to do,” said Brown. “They did tell me yesterday they had a huge talk at practice before I got there, and so I don’t know what it was about, but it must have paid off today.”

The Hawks held on to their lead from the midway point of the fourth set to the end when Rodriguez scored on a kill, Central hit the ball into the net, and Rodriguez tipped it over for the 25-18 win and a berth in the state tournament.

“Last year we got really far in the state tournament and the team’s mentality is that that’s what we want to get again,” said Brown.

Becahi will have played in the first round of the PIAA State Volleyball Tournament on Tuesday, past Press deadlines.