FINAL BRACKET
BOX SCORE

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Tenth-ranked Southern Oregon saw its 17-match winning streak come to an end as the Raiders fell to No. 3 Lee (Tenn.) 3-2 (29-27, 16-25, 16-25, 25-17, 9-15) to conclude Pool Play at the NAIA National Championships Thursday night at the Tyson Events Center.

Southern Oregon, 23-5 overall this season, finished Pool Play 2-1 and advances to Friday's single-elimination final bracket for the first time in program history. The Raiders will face No. 7 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) at 12:30 p.m. (C.S.T.) on Friday, with the winner advancing to an 8 p.m. (C.S.T.) showdown with second-ranked Texas at Brownsville.

Sarah Holgen (Honolulu, Hawaii/Ashland) led SOU with 17 kills and 24 digs to earn a double-double. Megan Bartling (Medford, Ore./North Medford) tallied 14 kills and Liz Madden (Manson, Wash./Manson) added 10 for the Raiders. Caryn Westrick (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake) and Angela Spieker (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap) combined for 51 assists, Becky Johnstone (Lake Arrowhead, Calif./Rim of the World) finished with 21 digs and Renee Yomtob (Boise, Idaho/Centennial) tallied 10 digs.

Arlene Ferreira led both teams with 22 kills, with Marija Zelenovic adding 12 and Christa Hutchison finishing with 10. Kelsey Leffew finished with a match-high 37 assists, and Sarah Smith's 24 digs led a group of four Lee players who reached double-figures.

The Raiders battled back from an eight-point deficit to win the opening set 29-27. Lee bounced back to take the next two sets by identical 25-16 scores, hitting .488 in the second set and .286 in the third set. Southern Oregon forced a fifth set with a 25-17 fourth-set victory, hitting .212 while limiting Lee to a match-low .026.

Last year these two teams squared off in a five-set thriller that went down to a 15-13 final score to give then-No. 1 Lee the victory over SOU. This year Lee hit .375 in the final set to earn the 15-9 win, but both teams will advance to the weekend's final bracket.