Bethlehem Catholic and Liberty came into the week as two of the top teams in the East Penn Conference and both showed that on Monday night.

The Hurricanes took down Becahi in five games in a rivalry showdown on the volleyball court to split the season series after getting swept by Becahi earlier in the year.

The win pushes Liberty to 11-2 on the year and keeps them in the hunt for one of the top seeds in the EPC postseason tournament.

Monday’s win was huge for Liberty and head coach Fernando Torres knew it was going to be a battle for his group.

“Any time you play a crosstown rival it’s a big match regardless of record,” said Torres. “Our goal is to treat every match like it’s the biggest match of the season. I believe our team’s leadership and common goal of continuous improvement have allowed us to not over value or under value wins and losses. We focus on our side of the net and constantly look for ways that we can improve our execution both offensively and defensively which has helped guide us through the season thus far.”

Liberty closes out the week against Easton (8-6) on Wednesday.

Hawks’ head coach Jessica Attieh knew it was going to be a challenge against Liberty, as it kicked off their toughest week of the season.

“Liberty is a respectable team with a successful season and program,” said Attieh. “We played Liberty early on and came out with the win and they have only gotten better as the season has gone on, so we expected a competitive game going into Monday.”

The Hawks (11-2) now have Emmaus (11-2) and Nazareth (9-5) left this week, giving them some nice prep work before they head into the postseason.

“This upcoming week will be a good test of that fight and grit both physically and mentally for the postseason,” Attieh said. “We have three talented teams to play this week, all of which that have been successful in their respective seasons. I like to approach big games with a one day at a time mentality, especially with them all being this week. We need to get through each game one at a time without looking too far in advance. I have confidence in our team’s ability to overcome this challenging week of play and continue to be a dominant team in the conference.”

Freedom (6-8) can help their playoff chances with wins over Easton and Northampton (9-5) this week, as they’ll face an uphill battle to qualify. They close out the season next week against both city rivals.