Midway through the volleyball season, it appears to be a tug-of-war battle for the lead in the EPC’s Steel Division.

Liberty (4-2), Freedom (4-3) and Bethlehem Catholic (4-3) are all battling for the top spot in the division and this week can further bolster that case when Freedom and Liberty square off Thursday night at Freedom.

The Patriots are hoping to prove that they’ve learned from last week’s results, where they swept Whitehall, but lost to Emmaus in three games, in order to truly vie for the division title.

Head coach Donna Roman is happy with how the season has started, but knows there’s still plenty of work to do.

“The season has been off to a positive start,” said Roman. “As a young team, we were not sure exactly what to expect. But we have battled some very tough teams, proving to be a scrappy, resilient team. We have played to our level throughout the season so far, with the exception of Southern Lehigh.

“Both Emmaus and Whitehall were measuring sticks for us. Of course Emmaus is tops in the EPC right now and how we competed with them, especially in our second set really showed what we can do defensively. With Whitehall, we were expecting a very close match, but we were able to take control early, and to set the pace for the remainder of the match. Both matches gave us confidence and an idea of our level of strength in a very competitive league this season. We are very happy with how we are playing but are looking to improve our serve-receive and vary our offense at this point in the season.”

Freedom has Nazareth (6-2) and Eastburg South (2-3) on deck this week before their rivalry tilt with the Hurricanes, two matches that can help dictate their momentum heading into Thursday night.

“We face some strong competition this week, but we will approach it as we has each week,” said Roman. “We set mini goals for ourselves and approach each set point by point. We try to the break the game down strategically.”

Liberty fell victim to Parkland and Central Catholic last week as they enter this week in a mini, two-game skid. The Hurricanes take on Northampton (4-3) and East Stroudsburg North (0-6) this week before their showdown with Freedom.

The Golden Hawks have won three of four matches and seem to be hitting their stride heading into a week where they have East Stroudsburg North (0-6), Pocono Mountain East (3-5) and Northampton (4-3).