Pleasant Valley came to play in Wednesday’s tennis match against East Stroudsburg South.

The Bears showed their strength by sweeping all seven matches over the Cavaliers to improve to 8-4 on the season.

“Brian’s a good coach and he does a great job with his kids,” Pleasant Valley head coach Mark Allison said. “They’re down this year, not a lot of experience coming back. We knew they would be down, and we had some experience coming back.

“Our kids stayed focused. They’ve been playing well.”

Josh Schaffner shined in the No. 1 singles match, prevailing over Miguel Retto in straight sets as part of Pleasant Valley’s domination of the day.

“He’s been playing great,” Allison said of Schaffner. “It’s a tough position at No.1 singles, particularly this year. There are a lot of good No. 1 players in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, but Josh competes hard. He’s been right there with all of them. He’s looked very good. He’s really improved from last year to this year.”

Jake Ammermann and John Berry also scored wins in their singles matches.

In doubles, Pleasant Valley continued its domination. The No. 2 team of Mike Taver and Evan Thomas, and the No. 3 team of Nathan Vo and Ben Jacoby were extremely impressive as neither team lost a game in their match.

“I think we struggled with some inexperience in doubles early in the year, but I think our doubles are getting better and better as the season progresses, which I’m really happy about,” Allison said. “They seem to be going well.”

UP NEXT

… The Bears will face Pocono Mountain West today in a short turnaround. Pocono Mountain West is 2-8 on the season and last faced Liberty on Monday. Allison hopes the Bears build on Wednesday’s performance. “I think we’ll come out and play strong. I tell the kids they always have to come and play their best match. If we do, I think we’ll be OK, but I never count my chickens before they hatch. We’ll see how we’ll come out Thursday. The kids are focused, so I expect them to come out and play well.”

SEASON REVIEW

… Allison talked about where the Bears are through their first 12 matches. “We played all the really tough teams,” he said. “The top four teams in the districts, we played all four of those teams and those were our losses, but we beat everyone else. We beat teams in the Lehigh Valley and we’re starting to play teams in the Pocono region now. I’ve been real happy with how we played. We’ve competed really well against Parkland and teams like that.” Pleasant Valley’s four losses on the season have come to Lehigh Valley powerhouses Parkland, Nazareth, Emmaus and Liberty.

Pleasant Valley 7, ES South 0

SINGLES

Josh Schaffner (PV) def. Miguel Retto 6-1, 6-0; Jake Ammermann (PV) def. Crew Bunn 6-1, 6-0; John Berry (PV) def. Jordan Berkowitz 6-0, 6-4.

DOUBLES

Anthony Stewart/K. Sungkarunski (PV) def. Marcus Ruiz/Joe Ataide 8-2; Mike Taver/Evan Thomas (PV) def. Griffin Libbi/Dan Doucker 6-0, 6-0; Nathan Vo/Ben Jacoby (PV) def. Aiden Dennis/Miliksha Dolap 6-0, 6-0; Caleb Jacoby/Kyle Delacruz (PV) def. Ethan Grossman/Matt Ruiz 6-1, 6-1.