Pleasant Valley had Southern Lehigh on its heels early.

The Bears built leads in each of the first two sets of Monday’s District 11 Class 5A volleyball semifinal, challenging the Spartans with their blocking and defense.

But Southern Lehigh had an answer each time.

Behind strong serving and decisive scoring runs, the second-seeded Spartans pulled away for a 25-17, 25-15, 25-13 sweep of No. 3 Pleasant Valley at Lehighton Area High School.

“We’re a great serving team,” Southern Lehigh coach Don West Jr. said. “If we serve well, it’s hard to compete with us.”

That strength was particularly evident in the opening set, when Pleasant Valley matched Southern Lehigh point for point through the early stages.

The teams were tied at 3, 5, 8 and 11 before the Bears gained some separation, building a 15-12 advantage that prompted a Southern Lehigh timeout.

The Spartans responded by scoring 13 of the final 15 points, turning a three-point deficit into an eight-point victory.

Southern Lehigh moved ahead 18-15, stretched its lead to 23-17 and closed the set on a kill by Amelia McCoy.

McCoy finished with a team-high 10 kills and three aces, providing a spark both at the net and from the service line.

“Amelia McCoy was more dominant in the back row on the service line than she was in the front row, I think,” West said. “When we’re serving and passing and doing those things, it’s really hard to stay with us.”

The second set followed a similar pattern.

Pleasant Valley jumped ahead 6-2, but Southern Lehigh answered with eight consecutive points to take a 10-6 lead.

The Spartans continued to build their advantage, moving ahead 14-7, 19-9 and eventually closing out the set 25-15.

Zoe Siuta played a significant role in Southern Lehigh’s serving success, finishing with four aces.

“Zoe Siuta had a great couple runs,” West said. “We started slowly in both the first and second, but in the middle part of those sets, we really pushed it and opened up the lead.”

For Pleasant Valley coach Drew Dymond, the difference came down to maintaining the level of play his team showed during those early stretches.

“I thought at times we played really well,” Dymond said. “It’s just that consistency wasn’t enough to beat a really good team like Southern Lehigh.”

Dymond pointed specifically to Southern Lehigh’s ability to exploit weaknesses in Pleasant Valley’s serve receive.

“Once we got caught in a certain serve-receive rotation, they were able to execute most plays, and we just weren’t able to get out of it enough,” he said. “We dug ourselves too much of a hole to climb out of against a good team like that.”

The Bears continued to compete in the third set.

After falling behind 4-0, Pleasant Valley rallied to take a 6-4 lead and later moved ahead 7-6 behind a block.

But Southern Lehigh regained control and began pulling away. The Spartans led 15-10, extended their advantage to 22-10 and finished the match with a 25-13 victory.

Pleasant Valley’s Isabella Slizewski finished with seven kills and two blocks, while Lila Borger added six kills and two aces. Sasha Slozina contributed four kills.

Dymond felt his team’s blocking could challenge Southern Lehigh, but the Spartans eventually found ways to counter it.

“That’s one of our strengths. We felt we could get our hands on a lot of their hits,” Dymond said. “But hats off to them. They found a way around the block eventually, and they really did it in the serving game, I thought.”

West said Southern Lehigh had prepared for that challenge by emphasizing a quicker, more varied attack.

“We’ve been working a lot in practice on beating the block and trying to be a little bit more deceptive,” he said. “Our offense is fast, so we tried to beat them with speed and all of our weapons.”

The Spartans also received seven kills from Lydia Bartlett and six from Sarah Jones, while setter Grace Przyuski recorded 24 assists.

The victory sends Southern Lehigh into Wednesday’s District 11 Class 5A championship against top-seeded Pottsville, which defeated Pocono Mountain East 3-1 in the other semifinal. The title match is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Lehighton.

For Pleasant Valley, the loss ended its district tournament run, but not without stretches that demonstrated its ability to challenge one of the area’s top teams.

“Blocking and defense was everything if we were going to knock off a team like that,” Dymond said. “Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen for us here tonight.”

So. Lehigh 3, Pleasant Valley 0

Southern Lehigh 25 25 25

Pleasant Valley 17 15 13

Statistics: Southern Lehigh - Amelia McCoy 10 kills, 3 aces, 7 digs; Lydia Bartlett 7 kills; Sarah Jones 6 kills, 9 digs; Zoe Siuta 4 aces; Grace Przyuski 24 assists; Eliana Marques 6 digs. Pleasant Valley - Isabella Slizewski 7 kills, 2 blocks; Lila Borger 6 kills, 2 aces; Sasha Slozina 4 kills; Harley Durant 1 kill, 1 block; Hunter Farkas 1 kill, 1 block.

Records: Southern Lehigh (21-0); Pleasant Valley (10-10).