TORONTO — The Conotton Valley volleyball team swept Toronto, but the Red Knights made the Rockets earn it.

“We did,” first-year Toronto (6-11) head coach Shannon Bahen said. “We had a hard fought five set loss in one of the best matches I have seen against Big Red last night. We didn’t come out as energetic and with the same energy tonight as we had last night. We dug ourselves a hole, and we had to find a way to get back in to it.

“Conotton Valley did a great job. They are really quick in the middle. Their defense is always there. It is a tough loss. Give credit to Conotton Valley. They played phenomenal.”

Toronto held the lead at times, but Conotton Valley (12-3) went on a few runs to pull away for the sweep, 25-19, 25-20, 25-21, Wednesday night inside the George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium.

“I told you this really early in the season, it always seems like we are really, really high, or really, really low,” Bahen said. “There was a mixture of both things tonight. You saw both things.

“We have to learn to dig deep and take advantage when we have the lead. The girls always play hard and play with heart. We just have to learn to dig deep and take advantage of leads when we have them.”

The Red Knights got off to a bit of a slow start in the match.

“The girls had a full day to rest,” Bahen said. “We did not have school today. That probably had something to do with us being sluggish. There was no excitement.

“It’s almost tournament time. It’s hard to believe, but we have to get ready for tournament time. We have things we have to tune up if we want to make a deep run in the tournament. We have to find a way to win matches.”

The win enabled the girls from Harrison County to sweep the girls from Jefferson County. Conotton Valley swept Toronto Sept. 2 at home.

“The matches were pretty similar,” Bahen said. “We played a lot harder in this one. We couldn’t get anything going out at Conotton Valley. I am proud of our effort. We mixed the ball around. Conotton Valley did a great job tonight. They did a phenomenal job.”

Conotton Valley is scheduled to play Monroe Central Saturday on the road.

Toronto is slated to play Lisbon Monday night at home.