Liberty’s volleyball season came to an end last week when the Hurricanes couldn’t overcome District 11 power Parkland in the 4A semifinals.

The Trojans won in four games to move onto Tuesday’s championship against Whitehall, which was past Press deadlines.

Despite falling short in the semis, head coach Mike Zile thought the program had a promising year.

“It was a successful season,” said Zile. “Last year we made it to the EPC semis and were knocked out in the District 11 quarters. This season we were able to get back to the EPC and District semis and were eliminated by a very tough Parkland team. Sometimes the team is tasked with knocking off a champion to get to the championship.”

Liberty loses six seniors but Zile knows there’s a good group of returning players coming back next year.

“The top returners are sophomore outside hitter Frank Benedetto and junior middle hitter Gavin Wachinski,” Zile said. “Frank was second on the team in kills with 183. Gavin was the most improved player. He had 112 kills and 23 blocks. Junior Danny King was a back up setter and defensive specialist and one of our top leaders. Sophomore Keagan Dougherty was a flex player and our most versatile where he got a lot of valuable Varsity reps at each front row position. He and Frank played well above the level of typical sophomore players where they will be something to build around.”

Freedom also saw their season come to an end in the district quarters, as they were ousted by Whitehall in three games. Zile thinks not having a middle school program stunts part of the development for both programs in the city.

“The players have been playing over the offseason more and more, but the biggest hurdle we have is that Bethlehem is the only school district in the Lehigh Valley that does not play in the spring middle school league,” said Zile. “Adam Mittl and Cristian Matos are the exception, but just about all of the players that play for Liberty learn volleyball in intramurals or freshman year. The lack of reps is what the Liberty and Freedom coaches have to overcome.”

Until a middle school program comes into the fold the only thing Zile can do is encourage more players to get offseason reps and experience.

“Earlier starts with playing will really help bridge the gap with top teams like Parkland,” said Zile. “We played extremely well considering. Parkland was more consistent with locating serves and more polished with hitting spots with hitting. A lot of that comes from reps and experience. The fun part for us was working hard to overcome that. We were right there.”