The East Penn Conference volleyball playoff race will come down to the wire this week, as the regular season comes to a close on Wednesday.

Liberty (10-4) should have their spot cemented in the eight-team mix. The Hurricanes last two league matchups this week are against Bethlehem Catholic (1-11) and Freedom (11-5) and the matchup with the Patriots on Wednesday night will be critical, as Liberty, Freedom, Nazareth and Northampton all entered the week with identical 7-3 league records, creating a long jam in the league seedings.

Once Wednesday’s results are finalized, Liberty could be looking at a seeding anywhere from the third seed to the seventh.

The league tournament gets underway next Tuesday and head coach Mike Zile is happy it’ll give his team something to focus on before districts.

“Definitely staying fresh by playing is number one,” said Zile on the benefits of qualifying for the league tourney. “The EPC champion ends up being the top seed for districts so that is definitely a motivator for the tournament. For us, our players really just need to keep getting playing reps. The more we can play the better.”

Getting those reps might be something Zile is focusing on more now after getting swept for the first time this season in last week’s loss to Exeter.

It was a contest that Zile will use as feeder for the postseason run.

“The Exeter loss is one that I personally will be paying attention to probably a lot more than our players,” he said. “I’ve been reminding them about that loss mainly because Exeter was the toughest match up we had so far. If we can prepare ourselves as if Exeter is across the net for every match then we will be prepared for any team. Exeter was powerful on offense, they were a taller team, and very fundamentally sound with getting lots of digs on defense.

In other news, Adam Mittl needed three kills to get reach 1,000 and 24 points to set the school record for most points ever (1,400 is current record). Mittl should reach those milestones this week.

Freedom has a tough week ahead with contests against Emmaus and Liberty. The Green Hornets are the lone undefeated team in the conference this year and finishing out with rival Liberty is always a dogfight.

The Pates are locked in the EPC tournament as well, but won’t know their seeding until Wednesday night.