The volleyball season is over for local teams, as Liberty, Freedom and Bethlehem Catholic were bounced out of their respective district tournaments last week.

The Hurricanes lost to Whitehall in four games last week of the District 11 3A quarters and Freedom dropped a hard fought five game loss to Nazareth in the quarters as well.

Bethlehem Catholic lost to Pocono Mountain East in five games of the 2A semifinals to send each local team home packing.

For Liberty (12-7), losing to Whitehall in districts was a bitter pill, especially after sweeping the Zephyrs in the EPC quarterfinals, but head coach Mike Zile knew Whitehall was always going to be tough this time of year.

“We went to five with them earlier in the season and managed to win,” said Zile. “If someone is looking at boxscores and saw that we swept them in the EPC quarters, they’d probably think it was an easy match when we did that and it was anything but that. We had to work really hard in that match and were pleased to walk away with the sweep. We knew they would be tough like it was.

“Whitehall played tremendous team defense. They had several digs on really hard driven balls that they converted for points. On our end, we had more hitting errors and serving errors than usual. The errors are part of the game and high quality teams will make us have more than usual. We had the opportunities and unfortunately just did not convert as well as Whitehall did.”

Freedom (11-10) was swept by Nazareth in both of their matches during the regular season, but knocked them out of the EPC tournament. Facing a them a fourth time was always going to be a difficult proposition.

Head coach John Yanek was disappointed to see the season end, but was proud of how his team played in the postseason.

“We played extremely well and worked hard and never gave up even being down 2-1,” Yanek said. “They performed as a team and fought to the bitter end. They had a blast and that’s worth more sometimes than a win. I’m very proud of the whole team including the bench who cheered us on relentlessly. We fought adversity all year with injuries and guys being out at the same time and different times. They always say you have to stay healthy to really have a chance at a championship. They told me afterward that they had so much fun this season and that converted to wins. Overall, it was a good season. We did well considering all the setbacks. I’m proud of our record and individual accomplishments.”

Now, both programs will try and retool this offseason with the hopes of improving their stance on the district volleyball scene next season.

“I think we had a very successful season,” said Zile. “The record improved from 5-11 to 12-7, we made it to the EPC semis, and to the district quarters. The steps that we have to take to improve are the same as any offseason. The players need to keep getting as many quality playing reps as they can and will need to be diligent about improving athletically with utilizing the weight room. Like with anything there is no magic other than just putting the time in and working hard.”