Sunnyslope opened its season with a five-set loss to Corona del Sol last week, but that seems to have settled the Lady Vikings down a bit as they've rebounded nicely.

Sunnyslope notched its fifth consecutive victory Thursday night with an impressive, yet hard-fought sweep over D-II title contender Notre Dame Prep by scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 25-23 at Sunnyslope High.

Sunnyslope (5-1), the defending D-II champs, were primed for this matchup. -- its toughest since Corona del Sol and one it can use as a springboard to Friday and Saturday's Tournament of Champions Invite at Westwood High and three other East Valley high schools.

"We knew this was a big game and they came at us with a lot of firepower," Sunnyslope coach Amber LeTarte said. "We played very well with the exception of couple spots. I was a little disappointed how we finished the third game. That sends a message. We got complacent."

Notre Dame (9-2) has been a consistent D-II title contender of late and has a state title to its credit. The expectation Thursday was for a lengthy match. For one that went three sets, its was.

Notre Dame bolted to a 10-4 lead in the first set with nice run leading the way. The rest of the set it was Sunnyslope securing the lengthy runs. Those were enough to rally them to the important first set triumph.

"I think the difference in the match was letting them go on too many runs of four or five points," Notre Dame coach Sara Fox said. "They had their way with us in a couple of rotations. At this point in the season they're a little better than us. We have to make that up come November."

Leading Sunnyslope for the match on the attack -- a balanced attack -- was junior outside Skylar Wine. Wine finished unofficially with 10 kills. She helped bring Sunnyslope back from a 19-17 deficit in the first set with a kill and followed it serving three successive points. Five players  registered between three and 10 kills for Sunnyslope.

Sunnyslope won the second set in similar fashion. After a kill and with Wine serving, the Lady Vikings reeled off five straight points to take a 21-17 lead. Wine tallied the set winner on her third attack of the volley in one of the longer volleys of the night in which there were many.

Sunnyslope capped the night with senior Sydney Miller's kill ending the 25-23 win in the final set. Sunnyslope led 18-10 at one point, but two aces by Victoria Svorinic and a kill by Willow Johnson nearly saw Notre Dame overcome the large deficit.

Willow Johnson led Notre Dame with 14 kills and  Lexi Johnson had seven blocks. Libero Saylor Butters, one of the three freshmen who start for Notre Dame, had 24 digs. Sophie Sydenham chipped in with five kills for the Lady Saints.