It was a feisty Whitehall girls volleyball team that won four games in the district playoffs, advancing to the quarterfinals before being ousted by Liberty.

They came in the 4A playoffs as the ninth seed and met Pleasant Valley, the eighth seed, in the opening round. The Bears were 11-6 heading into the tourney, and were undefeated in the Mountain Division of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

The Zephyrs rolled out to a fast start, winning the first set 25-21. The Bears rallied to win the second set, 25-23, but Whitehall bounced back with consecutive victories to advance to the quarterfinals.

That win set the stage for a rematch against Liberty who recently won the EPC crown, defeating Allentown Central Catholic 3-1 in the finals.

Whitehall won the first set 25-22, their third consecutive win in the tourney which had them immediately playing the quarterfinal round once they defeated Pleasant Valley. However, that was all they could muster against the Hurricanes who reeled off three consecutive wins of their own for the 3-1 victory.

The loss to the ’Canes ended Whitehall’s season. Head coach Paul Abi-Daher said that he felt that they played really well against Liberty. It was the second time they were able to take a game from the EPC champs, but he admitted that they just don’t have enough firepower to hold off such a strong team like the ’Canes.

They finished their season 9-11 and will now look toward next season as the 2017 campaign comes to a close.

He said that Whitehall volleyball is coming along, but they’ll need to develop some explosiveness along their frontline. They just can’t match some of the other teams in the league, and to do so, they must start earlier, getting girls exposed to volleyball in grade school and middle school.

The first-year coach is optimistic about what they can accomplish and believes if they dedicate themselves to developing their skills in club ball, as well as camps and clinics, they’ll have a good foundation in place.

“What we want to do is introduce them to club volleyball where we want to have 100 percent participation, and from that build the program every year,” said Abi-Daher.

Right now, the focus will be on filling in the spots vacated due to a strong graduating class. Abi-Daher said that once they’ve established that strong foundation, they’ll have people in the wings ready to move into those spots, making their graduation losses less disruptive.

“We’ll be able to transition players into the setting position, or wherever, and they’ll be ready to go and take over,” said Abi-Daher.

He believes once they have depth at each position they can remain strong during each rotation of the game.

The Zephyrs lose five seniors, all of whom played an integral part of their success over the course of their careers. They lose Chloe Levan, Analisa Sage, Alix Buskirk, Kristin Spengler and Amelia Ballard.

Spengler had a huge impact on the program as witnessed by the 1,000 point plateau she reached this season. She was also named as a first team EPC all-star selection as an outside hitter. Spengler will be heading south to Towson University to play volleyball for the Tigers.