STROUDSBURG - Stroudsburg has set the standard for boys' tennis in the Mountain Valley Conference over the last few years, winning five straight regular season championships.

This year, the Mounties have again achieved unprecedented success on the court, going 14-0 in regular season matches and posting an 11-0 mark in MVC play.Most of those achievements have come at the expense of Pleasant Valley, which has taken Stroudsburg down to the wire for the league title in two of the last three seasons. This year, the Mounties managed to scrape by the Bears in the regular season, winning both matches by scores of 4-3 and 5-2, respectively.With so much history and tradition surrounding both programs, it only seemed fitting that the two would meet one last time as members of the soon-to-be-obsolete Mountain Valley Conference in the semifinals of the District 11 Class AAA Team Tournament.What transpired was the closest contest of the season between the two rival, with the score tied 2-2 entering the final match of the day. And just as they have done all season, the No. 2 seed Mounties found a way to win, knocking off the third-seeded Bears 3-2 to earn a trip to the finals."To the bitter end," Stroudsburg coach Adele Gardner said of the back-and-forth battle. "The one point that I kept bringing to their attention was the fact that, in the last few years, PV has been pounding on the door and coming so very close, and they are going to do everything they can to win."You have to respect that. You have to be ready for it and you can't underestimate them. If you don't play well, they're going to win. And that's exactly the way it was today."Pleasant Valley came out strong in singles' play, highlighted by Bears' No. 1 Jon White picking up a dominant 6-4, 6-0 victory over Brady Wyant.The Bears' No. 3 singles player, Stevie Berry also earned a convincing victory, defeating Danny Procaccino 6-3, 6-3."During the second half of the season, Stevie really got his game together and came on strong for us," Pleasant Valley head coach Mark Allison said. "It showed today, and was really the culminating highlight of his season."But perhaps Pleasant Valley's most impressive performance of the day came in a loss, as Jon Walmach played through a groin injury he aggravated in Tuesday's first-round match against Southern Lehigh, only to come up short against Chris Vo, 7-5, 6-4."It's a shame that we couldn't have had him at full strength," said Allison. "But that's the way it goes sometimes and I was real proud of his effort out there, in spite of his injury."The gritty performance made Gardner take note, too."Holy cow," she said. "When he realized how important that match was, he was doing everything he could to win. Thank goodness I had a kid like Chris Vo out there."Gardner also had two strong doubles' teams that she was able to lean on to seal the win.The Mounties' No. 1 pair of Will Lynch and Brian Smith rebounded after dropping the first set to the Bears' Brandon Percey and Erik Ammermann, claiming a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win that setup a winner-take-all showdown in the final contest.Stroudsburg's Connor Cassady and Andy Hendry quickly removed any drama in the deciding match, defeating Eric Galante and Kevin Bantel in straight sets."For my first doubles team to drop that first set and come back like that was impressive," Garnder said. "And PV tried it in the second doubles match, but we were able to hang on."Doubles play will now be Pleasant Valley's focus, as the team of Walmach and White will turn its attention to the PIAA Doubles Championships that begin in two weeks. The duo won the district doubles tournament to advance to states."I think we're playing really well," said Allison. "We have to get (Jon) Walmach healthy. That's the number one priority. But I think we'll have a good showing."Stroudsburg 3, Pleasant Valley 2SINGLESJon White (PV) def. Brady Wyant, 6-4, 6-0; Chris Vo (S) def. Jon Walmach 7-5, 6-4; Stevie Berry (PV) def. Danny Procaccino, 6-3, 6-3.DOUBLESWill Lynch/Brian Smith (S) def. Brandon Percey/Erik Ammermann, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Connor Cassady/Andy Hendry (S) def. Eric Galante/Kevin Bantel, 6-2, 6-4.