Parkland has been the juggernaut that many teams, including Liberty, haven’t been able to hurdle on their way to a District 11 championship in volleyball over the past decade.

That came to an end last week when Liberty outlasted Parkland in five games. to win their first district championship since 2002.

The ‘Canes won 25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 17-15 to end the Trojans 10-year reign as District 11 champions in the highest classification.

It was a memorable moment for first-year head coach Fernando Torres to be able to guide the program to a monumental title.

“It means so much to us especially the seven seniors,” said Torres. “For these ladies to be able to break a 22 year-old district championship drought for Liberty girls’ volleyball and bring it back home, is an incredible feeling. To be able to do it against such a great program like Parkland, a program that has frankly had our number in years past is exactly the kind of challenge our girls wanted.”

This was the third straight year Liberty faced Parkland in the final, but after beating Parkland during the regular season, the Hurricanes knew they had a chance to end their run as district champions. Being able to learn from the past two seasons also played into Liberty’s success.

“Yes, we have been through some tough losses against Parkland,” said Torres. “I think our past failures helped to push our girls to approach this season with a little more urgency, a little more grit and toughness. You could see that hunger and desire during open gyms this past summer. The girls had a different look in their eyes.”

Liberty (18-3) moved on to the PIAA tournament now with a Tuesday showdown against District One fourth-place qualifier Upper Merion (18-5). The result of that contest was past Press deadlines, but Torres hopes his group is hungry for more after getting their first taste of gold.

“It’s just about understanding the job isn’t done yet,” he said. “We earned another few days of practice together and in order to keep this thing going we have to take care of business on Tuesday. All season we have taken a whatever match is on our schedule that day is the most important match of our season approach, so I’m confident that we’re locked in and ready for this challenge. We’re going to leave it all out on the floor and see what happens.”