NORTHAMPTON - Pleasant Valley was on the cusp of continuing its undefeated season Tuesday during its Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinal contest against Allentown Central Catholic.

The Vikings, however, had other ideas.

Central scored seven straight points in the fifth and deciding set to take down the Bears and hand Pleasant Valley its first loss 22-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 15-13.

“It was tough, especially when we were up at 13,” Pleasant Valley head coach John Gesiskie said. “We just couldn’t get the pass or hit that we needed. We got some really good balls up, but we couldn’t put it away.

“That hurts in the end. All of a sudden, it seemed like Central stepped it up there in the end and were more powerful with their hits.”

The Bears posted an 18-0 record during the regular season, and then rallied from a 2-1 deficit against Easton in the EPC quarterfinals to keep their record perfect.

Unfortunately for PV, the reverse happened against the Vikings.

The two teams split the first two sets, before the Bears came back in the third with a 25-20 win. Pleasant Valley actually trailed by six points at one point, before rallying to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

But like PV did against Easton, Central stayed alive with a 25-21 victory in the fourth set, before completing its comeback with a 15-13 decision in the final set.

“We were ready,” Allentown Central Catholic head coach Laurie Corcoran said. “We knew that they had aggressive serving and talented full attackers. We knew that their defense was relentless, so we were just trying to hit where the defense is not and adjust ourselves because we know that teams were going to tip on us. We got ourselves ready.”

The Vikings had two losses during the regular season, with both coming to undefeated Parkland. The Trojans defeated Liberty in the other semifinal match, so the two will meet again in the finals.

“Their serves were a little bit more consistently coming across,” Gesiskie said about ACC. “They had more speed on the ball. We did the best we could, and ended up on the short end. It’s part of the game. Those who make the least amount of mistakes are the ones that are going to win.”

Pleasant Valley senior Brianna Bruckman had a big night against Central with 40 assists, 14 digs and 11 blocks. Teammate Hannah Akob, despite nursing her right hand in the match, added 21 assists and nine kills. Rylee Ruggiero finished with 21 kills and seven blocks, while Lexi Womack contributed 13 kills and 28 digs.

EPC EXPERIENCE ... “It was really exciting because we didn’t know what to expect from ACC,” said Gesiskie, whose team was playing in the EPC semifinals for the first time. “We saw some film on them, and they’re a strong team consistently year after year. We knew that we were going to face a team that has a lot of experience playing in playoffs. This is our first time getting this far, so it’s new territory to start with. The girls stepped it up, and I thought they played really well through five games.”

THE STRETCH RUN ... Allentown Central Catholic called a timeout when it trailed 13-8 in the final set. The break seemed to help as the Vikings reeled off seven straight points to end the game. “We called a timeout and told the girls it’s either now or never,” Corcoran said. “You’re going to have to get out there and fight your way back. They fought their way back against a tremendous team in Pleasant Valley, who played us very well.”

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS ... Pleasant Valley also received 17 digs and two aces from Amiyah Poliseno, while Alexis Wilkes chipped in with nine digs, four assists and a pair of aces.