Freedom had hopes to contend for league and district titles this season, but the Pates fell victim to one of the states blue bloods last week in the EPC quarterfinals.

After defeating Parkland early in the season, the Trojans got their dose of revenge, knocking off Freedom in four games (25-20, 25-23, 24-26, 26-24) to advance to the semifinals against top-seed Emmaus.

The Pates (15-4) now get over a week off to prepare for the District 11 tournament, where they hope to get healthy and recalibrated heading into the most important part of their season.

While the defeat to Parkland was disappointing, head coach John Yanek knew it would be a difficult matchup playing without Ayden Willman.

“We were missing our big OPP Ayden,” said Yanek. “That cut down on our hitting options and blocking.”

Despite falling to short to Parkland in the league tourney, Freedom still has a chance to districts as the third seed if Emmaus holds on to win the EPC title.

Yanek just hopes they’ll be able to have everything come together when it matters the most to make a run to the championship.

“We need to play every point, every set and every match,” he said of what they learned from the Parkland loss. “Do not look forward and play in the moment. We need to work harder at practice to be able to produce during the match.”