ALLENTOWN – Even under the most ideal circumstances, the Pleasant Valley volleyball team faced a daunting challenge on Tuesday night.

Unfortunately for the Bears, the circumstances surrounding their Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoff game were far from ideal.

Drawing powerhouse Parkland in the quarterfinal round, the Bears not only had to play most of the match without their top two players, they also had to do it against a Trojan team that appears to be peaking for the postseason.

The result was a dominating 25-10, 25-10, 25-14 Parkland sweep.

“We knew what we were up against,” said Pleasant Valley coach John Gesiskie. “We needed some things to go our way if we were going to be able to hang in with them. We need them to be a little off their game. But that didn’t happen. They played really well tonight.

“In addition, we were shorthanded. We lost our top blocker, Madi Rosenberg, a couple of weeks ago to a broken hand, and then tonight Desi Powell, our top hitter, suffered a leg injury in the first game.”

Parkland showed early that it was going to be on its game. Behind the powerful net play of Grace Steurer and Adriana Goetz-Morales, and some outstanding setting from Brooke Kratzer, the Trojans jumped out to a 15-6 Game 1 lead and cruised from there.

“Our consistency at the net was really good tonight,” said Parkland coach Mike Krause. “We struggled with some inconsistency early in the season, but we’ve been a lot better lately.

“I’m really happy with how we played.”

The second game was almost an instant replay as the Bears struggled to slow down Steurer and Goetz-Morales at the net. The Trojans jumped ahead 12-2, and never let up.

Pleasant Valley had a total of just two service points in the first two games.

“They are so strong up front, that you can sometimes overlook how great they are defensively, “ said Gesiskie. “We had some hits that I thought were down and the next thing you know the ball is up and they’re attacking again.”

Both coaches went to their benches in the third game. The Bears were tied at 5-5 early behind a couple of service points and some nice defense from Desi Beade. But Parkland eventually pulled away.

“John (Gesiskie) does a nice job with his team,” said Krause. “But tonight, we were on our game. In addition to the strong net play, I thought our floor game was really good. We got to a lot of balls.”

TOUGH COMPETITION … The Bears, who won the Mountain Division championship of the EPC for the fourth straight season after winning the last five Mountain Valley Conference titles, haven’t been able to solve the dominance of the EPC’s Lehigh Valley powers. “We have four teams in our league (Emmaus, Parkland, Nazareth, Allentown Central Catholic) ranked among the top 10 teams in the state in their respective classes,” said Gesiskie. “That’s the type of competition we face, and that’s where we need to get our program. We need to take that next step.”

THE NUMBERS … Ari Weaver had three kills and four digs for the Bears. Beade had nine digs, Powell had four digs before leaving in the opening game, and Cameron Caffrey had five assists. For Parkland, Steurer had 12 kills, Goetz-Morales had 11 kills and Kratzer had 31 assists.

UP NEXT … Parkland advances to the EPC semis, where it will face Central Catholic. Pleasant Valley will now wait for District 11 Class 4A playoff action next week.