Winning looked effortless for Parkland during Saturday’s East Penn Conference volleyball championship. The Trojans swept past Liberty 25-18, 25-13, 25-16 to claim their sixth straight league title, dating back to the former Lehigh Valley Conference.

For head coach Mike Krause, Saturday was another notch in their belt on their already perfect season.

“We try to focus on just playing,” said Krause. “Our goal is to just do your job and implement the strategy we’ve put forth in every game. That keeps their focus on what their job is, more so than the outcome of the match.”

Liberty was able to stay close with the Trojans through the first eight points of each set, but the Trojans dominance and consistency would eventually pull them away for comfortable victories.

Erika Foose led the Trojans (19-0) with 13 kills, while Siena Salvaggio added 12. Parkland had 37 assists on the afternoon as Mike Krause’s squad looked comfortable throughout the match.

Despite having a bulls-eye on their back, Krause knows his team is used to being in this situation.

“We don’t talk a lot about having a bulls-eye on our back, but the kids know it,” Krause said. “We try to emphasize to them what we want them to do and our girls execute pretty well.”

For Liberty head coach Missy Lynn, the game and stage was one she her team will learn from moving forward into this week’s district tournament, which starts Thursday night.

“There were too many unforced errors, mental mistakes and intimidation,” said Lynn of her team’s performance. “We’re just not used to being on this stage and we have to play error free volleyball against a team like Parkland. That just didn’t happen for us today. Parkland has no weaknesses. I think if we play a perfect game, anybody can be beat. They’ll [Parkland] make mistakes too. They’re high school girls just like we are, but we have to challenge them. When you keep serving balls into the net and not covering, it looks like they [Parkland] were just practicing. I think if we play clean volleyball we can stick with this team.”

Parkland and Liberty earned the one and two seeds respectively for the district tournament, as the Trojans enter as the overwhelming favorite to win their second straight District 11 3A tournament.

They’ve won four out of the last five district tournaments and are returning 3A state champions from a year ago.

The Trojans will open up Thursday’s action at 7pm against the winner of the eight-nine matchup between Stroudsburg and Southern Lehigh, which takes place at 5pm before the quarterfinal match.

Semifinals are next Tuesday and finals are next Thursday. Even though Parkland is favored, Krause wants his team to take advantage of their opportunity.

“Anything can happen and we need to stay healthy,” he said. “These girls can accomplish anything they want, so our emphasis is preparation making sure we execute the things we need to help us win.”