Memories of losing in last year’s East Penn Conference championship were certainly on the minds of Liberty players coming into last Saturday’s championship match against Parkland.

The Trojans swept Liberty a year ago for the EPC crown and the Hurricanes returned the favor over the weekend, taking care of business in three straight games (25-11, 25-21, 25-20) to over power Parkland.

It was the first league title for the program since at least 2009 and the moment of victory was a sweet feeling for the undefeated Hurricanes (19-0).

“I knew we had what it takes, but it’s going to take everything we got,” said head coach Missy Lynn. “We’ve been waiting for weeks to play in this game. This is how we can perform if we play up to our ability. We played and beat Parkland in their tournament earlier this year and I think that helped them come in and be a little more relaxed.”

Liberty came out more than relaxed, as they were fast from the start in blowing past Parkland in the opening 25-11 victory in the first set.

The second set saw both teams grid locked at 19 until Liberty was able to pull away by outscoring Parkland 6-2 to close out the win and set the tone for the final set, where victory wasn’t going to be denied for the Hurricanes.

With the title in balance, Amanda Rachwal scored the winning point off a deflected block to set in motion a Liberty championship.

“It means so much for us because we’ve been playing hard all year,” said Rachwal. “Parkland is a great team and we knew we’d see them in this game. It’s incredible to win in a sweep and I’m just so proud of all the girls on the court. We played team volleyball and it showed.”

Parkland head coach Mike Krause knew his team was going into the match with less experience than his counterparts and he felt that showed early.

“I think we played tight and Liberty played really well,” he said. “They did a really nice job and we just had to keep fighting. Our kids played with heart, but we were just off a little bit.”