Box Score EUGENE – The Southern Oregon volleyball team held on in its first-ever five set match against Northwest Christian, knocking off the Beacons 25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 23-25 and 15-12 Saturday afternoon at Morse Event Center.

Southern Oregon improves to 16-8 overall and 12-2 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play with its 12th consecutive win over the Beacons. Northwest Christian falls to 14-11 overall and 7-8 in the CCC. The Raiders return to action Friday, when they will host Evergreen in a 7 p.m. match at Bob Riehm Arena.

Haley Kasler (Grants Pass, Ore./Hidden Valley) led SOU with 14 kills and Liz Madden (Manson, Wash./Manson) added 11 in the win. Caryn Westrick (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake) tallied a team-high 21 assists and Renee Yomtob (Boise, Idaho/Centennial) finished with 19 digs. Tami Brown posted a double-double for NCU with 18 kills and 15 digs.

The Raiders jumped ahead to a 10-5 lead in the first set, but Northwest Christian used a 9-3 run to tie it up at 16-16. A kill by Kasler pushed the momentum back to the Raiders, and they scored seven of the next nine points to regain a five-point lead, with a Kasler kill handing SOU the 25-21 set victory.

Northwest Christian scored five straight points early in the second set to take a 6-1 lead, but Southern Oregon worked its way back into the game and tied it up at 15-apiece. After the Raiders took a 17-16 lead, the Beacons closed the set on a 9-3 run to tie the match at 1-1.

Southern Oregon bounced back in the third set, building a 14-9 lead en route to a 25-20 victory. The fourth set featured nine tie scores and five lead changes, as SOU put together an early 10-1 run to take an 11-3 lead. Northwest Christian wouldn't back down, however, using an eight-point streak to tie it up at 12-12 as streaks ruled the rest of the set. The Beacons took a three-point lead at 17-14 before the Raiders scored the next five points. Northwest Christian countered with a 5-1 run to take a two-point lead before SOU tied it at 23-23 on a block by Nikki Keller (Carson City, Nev./Carson) and Jordan Crossley (Napa, Calif./Napa). Back-to-back kills by Chelsea McGowan and Maren Mansfield gave NCU the 25-23 win and forced a fifth set.

The fifth set repeated the early stretch of the fourth, with the Raiders taking a 9-5 lead midway through before NCU battled back to within two at 11-9. The teams exchanged points the rest of the way before Madden closed out the match with her 11th kill of the day.