EMMAUS - Pleasant Valley has never won a single set against Emmaus in its volleyball history.

The Bears threatened to end that streak when they built a lead as big as six points during the second set of the District 11 quarterfinals on Saturday.But Emmaus handled the adversity with a a 7-0 run to help win the set and keep momentum on its side for the remainder of the match.The Hornets eventually ended the Bears' 2016 season in a convincing sweep, 25-15, 25-19, 25-11."The excitement of trying to take that one set would have been a big change around here," said Pleasant Valley head coach John Gesiskie. "Overall, you saw the shining moments when we really believed in ourselves. It was a good showing though, I'm happy."Could we have done better? Yes. But we could have done worse. Hopefully we're going to move forward."While the Bears will graduate seven seniors, Emmaus has only three. But the Hornets often turn to Alyson Bohman (18 kills), Tiffany Hoppes (seven digs), and Natalie Texler in times of need."This team is unlike any other," said Emmaus head coach Gwen Millets. "We have a lot of talent. We have three seniors that are incredible leaders and have taken this team by storm. They say 'nothing is going down under my watch'. We really rally together as a family, led by those seniors."Millets and her seniors received quite a boost from a number of underclassmen.Sophomore Caroline Bond dished out 39 assists, while Adelina Rivera-Woolard and Macy Van Den Elzen each had eight kills.For Pleasant Valley, it was senior Veronica Roberts who stuck out the most as she tallied a career-high 12 kills."Veronica really stepped up for us today," said Gesiskie. "This is the best game that she had all season, she was on fire. You could see she had the desire to come in and win."Veronica has really matured a lot over this past year. She didn't understand the meaning of what a team player could do. It dawned on her in the second half of the season. And today, she wanted it more than anyone out there and she showed it. Even when we were down she pushed through it and cheered for her teammates."The Bears had a very nice run behind four-year letterwinners Sara Kron and Noel Kelly. The void of their presence around the net will be missed, but Gesiskie had a strong message to the rest of his young Bears' squad."We told the young girls that you can't wait until your senior year to push yourself," the Pleasant Valley coach said. "You have to push yourself from the moment you decide to play the sport. It's a heart-game. It doesn't matter how smart you are, you have to have the heart and desire to succeed."There are going to be many moments in life when you get pushed and shoved around and you have to go that extra mile. That's what we're trying to install."LONG WAIT … Pleasant Valley had an 11-day layoff since its last contest against ACC, which made it difficult to stay fresh."It was tough to get going," said Gesiskie. "We had a scrimmage with Pocono Mountain East. But it's a long period of time, we came in stale today."UP NEXT … Emmaus will take on top-seed Parkland on Tuesday in the semifinals. The Trojans swept Whitehall in the quarterfinals. According to MaxPreps, Parkland is ranked sixth in the state.