BALDWIN — Zoe Pawlak feels the pain in her knees every time she jumps.

Every time she dives onto the volleyball court.

Every time she executes one of her potent jump serves.

It can be excruciating and the Freeport senior outside hitter has been limited this season because of those balky joints.

She’s played mostly in the back row this year despite being one of the most potent and powerful players at the net in the state. It was done to preserve her for a match like the one she had Saturday.

Pawlak shrugged off the discomfort and turned in one of the most epic matches of her career to help Freeport to a 25-17, 25-20, 23-25, 25-16 win over West Shamokin in the WPIAL Class AA finals at Baldwin High School Saturday afternoon.

“I just play through it, honestly,” Pawlak said. “It’s going to be there until I get a year or two rest. So, after college it will be gone. I don’t let it affect me.”

Pawlak certainly didn’t play injured against West Shamokin, imposing her will at the net to the tune of 30 kills.

The Wolves had no answer.

“Three matches ago I asked her, ‘Can you do seven (matches) in a row?’” said Freeport coach Tom Phillips. “She said, ‘Absolutely, I can.”

So, Pawlak has gritted her teeth and played through the pain. She also had five aces against West Shamokin with an intimidating jump serve.

“I started learning how to serve like that when I was 11,” Pawlak said. “I sort of taught myself. Then when I started playing club, I started to perfect it.”

Pawlak had eight kills in the Game 1 win. Freeport started quickly, building an 11-3 lead after starting slowly the last two matches of the WPIAL tournament.

“Good start. That was the key,” Phillips said .

It was the third WPIAL title for the Yellowjackets, who last won the championship in 2013.

Senior outside hitter Morgan Ruppersberger, who had seven kills in the win, desperately wanted her fellow seniors, Pawlak and libero Meredith Tirdel, to cap their careers with another WPIAL crown.

“We won my sophomore year and I loved the feeling of that,” Ruppersberger said. “Now that I’m a senior, I wanted nothing more to win it again. It’s awesome.”

It was a kill from Ruppersberger in Game 4 that handed the Yellowjackets the championship.

“As soon as I got that kill I fell to the floor and started screaming,” Ruppersberger said. “I realized we had just won WPIALs and it felt so great.”

Ruppersberger was one of many Freeport players who had a hand in the title.

Sophomore Claire Crytzer served well, junior Maggie Ward set up the Freeport hitters, junior Maddie Christy had two huge kills to quell West Shamokin rallies and juniors Hannah Connor and Katie Zingaro also came up with timely kills to keep the Wolves at bay.

“I couldn’t be happier for these girls,” Phillips said. “They wanted it in the worst kind of way, and so did I. It’s one of those things where everyone contributed today. Everyone was outstanding.”

Even the worst stretch of the night for Freeport in Game 3 turned out to be a positive.

The Yellowjackets fell behind 11-0 in that game, but rallied to tie it at 13-13 before eventually losing.

The comeback, though, gave Freeport momentum heading into the fourth game.

“We are a very good team this year. We will not give up when we’re down,” Pawlak sai. “You saw that. We were down 11-0 and came back. We didn’t pull it out, but it shows we will never give up.”

Freeport will play District 10 runner-up North East in the first round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Seneca Valley High School.

With the WPIAL championship in their back pocket, the Yellowjackets’ focus now is on adding a state title to the accomplishments.

“We’re looking to make some noise at states,” Phillips said. “That’s what we’re looking to do.”