ASHLAND – Challenging national title contenders to open the season might become a bit of a tradition for the Southern Oregon volleyball program.

Last season, the Raiders began the year with an upset victory over top-ranked, four-time defending national champion Fresno Pacific. In 2012, Southern Oregon will host fifth-ranked Biola in one of the headlining matches of this weekend's Paul Elliott Invitational.

The tournament, named after the SOU record holder for most volleyball coaching victories, will feature six teams in 12 total matches Friday and Saturday. The first match is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, with SOU taking on UC Merced in the second contest at noon. Southern Oregon will face Biola at 8 p.m. in the final match of the night.

Saturday's slate will include two more matches for the Raiders, against Westminster at noon and against Viterbo at 8 p.m. Oregon Tech will make the trip from Klamath Falls to participate in the six-team tournament.

For the Raiders, the weekend provides an early-season litmus test of how the young team stands up against some of the top programs in the country. The 2012 SOU squad features eight freshmen and only three seniors.

“We have some really good competition to start the year off,” SOU head coach Josh Rohlfing said. “We're going to be tested pretty quickly here.”

Although they lost a pair of All-Americans to graduation from last year's Cascade Conference Tournament Championship team, the Raiders return a strong core of players from the 2012 team. Caryn Westrick (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake) and Angela Spieker (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap) are back to split setting duties for the second straight year, with Haley Kasler (Grants Pass, Ore./Hidden Valley) returning to anchor the middle. Natalie Scheller (Bend, Ore./Bend) and Liz Madden (Manson, Wash./Manson)  ranked third and fourth on the team in kills last season, and they will lead the Raiders' outside hitters entering the year. Renee Yomtob (Boise, Idaho/Centennial) solidifies the libero position after leading the team in service aces and ranking third in digs in 2011.

We didn't get any conference recognition for this returning group last year, but we feel like we have some all-conference potential in this group,” Rohlfing said. “We're excited to see what they're capable of doing.”

A trio of transfers should contribute immediately in 2012. Mona Goudarzian (Albany, Ore./West Albany) comes to SOU from Cal. State-East Bay and will have two years of eligibility remaining. Rohlfing says Goudarzian is “a very good athlete, very strong and physical.”

Motade Atanda (San Jose, Calif./Presentation) joins SOU after spending time at NCAA Div. I Butler and Foothill Junior College. Last season at Foothill, she led the team in kills 11 times and helped the Owls post a 20-7 record.

“She is a very extraordinary jumper and a great athlete,” Rohlfing said of Atanda.

Finally, 6-0 sophomore Sam Boehnke (Ashland, Ore./Ashland) returns to her hometown of Ashland after spending last year at Occidental College. She'll play along the front line, where Rohlfing believes she “is going to be fantastic for us in the middle.”

Following the weekend tournament, the Raiders will host Pacific Union on Aug. 21 at Ashland High School before heading to California for the Biola Invitational, where they will face three more ranked teams and another that received votes in the NAIA preseason poll.

Entering his sixth season as head coach, Rohlfing already owns 117 career wins and three CCC championships. After the Raiders finished 23-6 last season and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament Final Bracket for the first time in program history, he knows the 2012 team will face plenty of challenges throughout the season. That all begins Friday at Bob Riehm Arena.

“It's really a good time to be a Raider,” Rohlfing said. “We have a lot of potential. We're very green and we're untested, so it could take us a little bit, but we're really excited to see what happens when we take the court against Biola on Friday.”