How Freedom fares this season on the volleyball court is a question that head coach John Yanek would like to answer sooner than later.

The Pates, coming off last season's 9-9 finish, which saw them lose in the first round of district play, return a relatively inexperienced roster with the hopes of gelling in time to make another push to the off-season.

"We started slow last year and I know we'll have to work through some things early," Yanek said, "but I think once we get past the first half of our schedule, we should be in pretty good shape."

Leading the Pates this year include senior outside hitter Jon Vander Schauw and senior setter Jon Hart.

Sophomore outside hitter Will Cacciatori looks to be a key piece this season and senior basketball player Jeff Toronto will lineup on the opposite side to give the Pates an athletic player at the net.

"We have a couple basketball players this year," Yanek said. "It's good to have other guys out for the team. They'll help definitely us."

The Pates started the season off on the right foot last week by sweeping Easton in three games 25-20, 25-23, 25-14 to give them a confidence boost.

Now they just need to keep that train rolling.

"We need to improve our defense from a year ago and our serve-receive," he said. "We'll get better as the year goes on and hopefully put ourselves in a good position for the playoffs."