The Southern Oregon volleyball team swept Simpson 25-12, 25-13, 25-17 this afternoon and then fell to top-ranked and three-time NAIA defending National Champion Fresno Pacific 25-19. 25-22, 25-16 in the tonight's finale of the Paul Elliott Invitational at McNeal Pavilion.

Southern Oregon went 2-2 in the Invitational and now sports a 3-2 overall record.

Southern Oregon (3-2) played tight against the Sunbirds (4-0) in the opening set.

Back-to-back kills by junior Sarah Holgen (Honolulu, Hawaii/Ashland) gave the Raiders a 10-9 lead and Holgen tied the set at 15-15 on another kill.

Fresno Pacific pushed the lead to 17-15 and 18-16, but a Sunbird attack error had the Raiders within one at 18-17. Fresno Pacific then responded with four straight points to take control of the set and ended the set with a kill by Martina Gregusova.

In the second set, the Raiders fell behind 7-1 and had to battle back. Junior Lauren Swetland (Cottonwood, Calif./West Valley) got the Raiders back to within one at 13-12 with a kill. After the Sunbirds had taken an 18-13 lead, SOU cut it to 18-16 on a kill by Lindsey Stone (Ashland, Ore./Ashland). SOU benefitted from FPU errors to cut the lead to 23-21 and 24-22, but All-American Keke Wong won it for the Sunbirds.

In the third set, after cutting the Fresno lead to 10-8 with a Leah Bergstrom (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) kill, the Raiders didn't have an answer for the Sunbirds as the guests finished the tournament a perfect 4-0.

Holgen led the Raiders with eight kills, while Bergstrom had six and no errors. Swetland, Megan Bartling (Medford, Ore./North Medford) and Stone all had four blocks.

Gregusova had 13 kills to lead the Sunbirds.

In the sweep of Simpson, Holgen led the Raiders for the fourth-straight match with 12 kills. Liz Madden (Manson, Wash./Manson) and Megan Bartling (Medford, Ore./North Medford) both had six kills and Bartling had six blocks.

For the match, SOU held Simpson to a -.022 attack percentage.

SOU is now off until Sept. 3 when they open Cascade Conference at Warner Pacific.

Other Scores From Saturday:
Montana Western 3, Simpson 0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-20)
Embry Riddle 3, Oregon Tech 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-16)
Fresno Pacific 3, Embry Riddle 2 (25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 26-18, 15-13)
Oregon Tech 3, Montana Western 2 (26-24, 25-22, 18-25, 18-25, 15-12)