Knights sweep Southern to return to OVAC final
Andrew Grimm HITTING HARD — Toronto's Addison Dobbs goes up to attempt a kill past Southern Local's Kiah Sloan during Tuesday's OVAC Class 2A semifinal.
Andrew Grimm OVER THE TOP — Toronto's Jayna Reeves tries an attempt past Southern's Kalayah Crute and McKenzie Sloan.
Andrew Grimm AT THE NET — Toronto's Kylie Mitchell tries to get the ball past a block from Southern's Kalayah Crute.
Andrew Grimm BLOCKING — Toronto's Danielle Sutherin attempts to block against Southern.
Andrew Grimm HITTING HARD — Toronto's Addison Dobbs goes up to attempt a kill past Southern Local's Kiah Sloan during Tuesday's OVAC Class 2A semifinal.
Andrew Grimm OVER THE TOP — Toronto's Jayna Reeves tries an attempt past Southern's Kalayah Crute and McKenzie Sloan.
Andrew Grimm AT THE NET — Toronto's Kylie Mitchell tries to get the ball past a block from Southern's Kalayah Crute.
Andrew Grimm BLOCKING — Toronto's Danielle Sutherin attempts to block against Southern.
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TORONTO -- Gyms across the Ohio Valley typically have a big banner listing all of the years a school has had a team win an OVAC championship in each sport. The one hanging inside Toronto’s George J. Kunzler Gymnasium has an empty spot in the volleyball section despite several really good Red Knights teams coming close in the past.
This year’s Red Knights, who entered the conference tournament as the top seed in Class 2A, moved one step closer to changing that empty spot to read 2026 on Tuesday night, sweeping No. 4 seed Southern Local in convincing fashion in the Class 2A semifinals on their home court and earning a trip to the ECO Center on Saturday.
“We told the kids these next couple of weeks, with the OVAC tournament and state tournament coming up, everything is going to have to be dialed in and they have bought into it,” Toronto head coach Shannon Bahen said. “I thought we came out laser-focused right from the start and did a lot of good things.
“This is such a good group of girls, they are all supportive of each other and are focused on one goal as a team -- winning an OVAC title together.
“We’re going to try and change that (spot on the banner) Saturday. We’re going to give it our best shot and not go down without a fight.”
Toronto, which won for the 19th time this season in 21 outings, seemed to find its groove early on in each set and kept it rolling in earning the sweep.
“That was very important to us,” Bahen said. “We were able to keep momentum, and sometimes we have not done that, so it was good to see. There were not too many errors, but when we had them, one thing I can always rely on from my kids is when they do make one, they want the ball back.”
After pulling away to win the first set, the Knights closed the second set on a 16-5 run after the Indians (7-14) had evened the set up at 9-9, taking a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-14 showing.
In the third set, again after Southern had tied things up early on, this time at 6-6, the Knights rattled off a 16-2 run to take control and then closed things out after the Indians responded with nine of the next 10, finishing the show and punching their ticket to Saturday with a 25-18 win in the third set.
The win gives Toronto three victories over the Indians this season, as they won both regular season meetings as well, winning the three matches a combined nine sets to one.
For the Knights, the hard-hitting Addison Dobbs tallied 21 kills and five aces to lead the way, while Jayna Reeves tallied 17 kills, two blocks and an ace, Kylie Mitchell had nine kills and three blocks, Haley Bodnar recorded 15 digs, a kill and an ace, Jaylee Brown tallied seven digs and Danielle Sutherin finished with 43 assists and two aces.
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Toronto will go for its first OVAC title on Saturday against No. 2 seed River (15-6), which defeated third-seeded Caldwell in the other semifinal on Tuesday night. The Red Knights and Pilots have not met this season.
It will be Toronto’s first trip to the championship game since 2023.