Liberty’s win streak came to a halt last week on the volleyball court, as Nazareth took the Hurricanes down in five games in a battle against two of the upper tier teams in District 11.

The Hurricanes (8-2) saw their seven match win streak snapped with the loss to the Blue Eagles (12-1), giving them an opportunity to fix some things heading to this week’s three match slate.

“One of the main takeaways from Nazareth is that our offense will need to be more efficient,” said head coach Mike Zile. “The game is a game of rotations. Ideally, we need all six rotations to be strong where we can side out on serve receive on each. We got stuck in a couple of rotations against Nazareth. Sometimes the best defense is a strong offense. We will need to keep working on that.”

Zile was able to see what his team learned from the defeat right away this week, as they took on Emmaus (11-0) Monday in a pivotal clash.

The Green Hornets are traditional league powers and being back in the conversation to have big showdowns with the EPC elite shows the Hurricanes are moving in the right direction.

“A year ago we were in much more of a developmental phase where serve receive was not as consistent,” said Zile. “Fast forward to this year our serve receive is much more consistent and has kept us in key matches. When playing against the top teams in the league the game comes down to physicality. Big blocks and consistent powerful hits are needed. We are getting there with putting it all together.”

Liberty caps off the week against Dieruff (6-6) and Bethlehem Catholic (3-9).

Freedom (7-6) is pushing for a district berth as well and hanging on to the final spot of the EPC playoff race, as the Pates have won four straight, including Monday’s victory over Pocono Mountain West.

It’s a jammed week of action for the Pates with more matches against Nazareth, Notre Dame Green Pond (1-11) and Northampton (4-8).

Becahi faces a tough stretch of action with Northampton, Emmaus and Liberty on tap.