BUFFALO TWP — Being the first group to break in the new gymnasium at Freeport Middle School gave Zoe Pawlak and her teammates on the Yellowjackets’ girls volleyball team some options.

Freeport started practicing there last week ahead of the WPIAL Class AA volleyball playoffs and tried to tinker with things to make the new gym feel like home.

The Yellowjackets found their place to sit, how to come out to warmups and adjusted the lights to the right hue during their 25-12, 25-10, 25-11 first-round playoff win over South Park Thursday night.

Freeport (17-1) reached the quarterfinals for the 10th straight year and will play Beaver Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

“We got used to it in practice. We came in here and changed some things,” said Pawlak, who finished with 10 kills and two aces. “We can change the lights or make them brighter, however we wanted them. The old gym was pretty dark, so we moved them up a little bit.”

The Yellowjackets hoped to play in the gym earlier in the season, but there were a few delays.

When it came time for the playoffs, Freeport coach Tom Phillips thought the new gym would better prepare them moving forward. Phillips had his team vote on where they wanted to play.

“We thought we were going to be in here for our tournament,” Phillips said. “The date kept getting pushed back and pushed back. We talked about it as a team and once we came over here and saw the place, it has a good feel to it.”

The Yellowjackets didn’t let the Eagles (12-4) hang around. After South Park cut the lead to 12-9 in the first set on a Freeport attack error, the Yellowjackets responded with a 9-3 run to pull away.

Morgan Ruppersberger, who finished with 10 kills and three blocks said Freeport had some kinks to work out.

“The lights because in the old gym our lights were really dull,” Ruppersberger said. “I wear contacts so bright lights like these dry my contacts out. It makes it harder for me to play, that was the hardest adjustment.”

In the second set, South Park led 10-9 before Pawlak took over. She contributed four kills and an ace to give Freeport takes a 15-10 lead.

“I feel like we were too wound up from winning the first game by so many points,” Ruppersberger said. “We had to take it down a little bit and take a second to calm down and get back in our rhythm.”

Freeport never trailed in the third set. South Park opened with a service error and Pawlak added two service aces on top of that.

Brittany Andrews led the Eagles with six kills.

“We were a little bit nervous tonight,” Phillips said. “The girls were a little bit to where they didn’t know how the new gym was going to be. We were hoping to christen it the right way.”