SOU NOTES

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon volleyball team opened Cascade Collegiate Conference play with three wins last week, and the Raiders will have a pair of their toughest conference matches on the schedule this weekend when they host Eastern Oregon and No. 15 College of Idaho.

Southern Oregon, 7-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play, will take on EOU Friday at 7 p.m., with College of Idaho coming to Ashland for Saturday's 7 p.m. match. Both will be played at Bob Riehm Arena.

The Raiders are coming off a pair of impressive road wins that garnered them CCC Team of the Week honors. Southern Oregon overcame an 0-2 deficit to defeat Warner Pacific in five sets Friday night before downing Concordia on Saturday with a .490 team hitting percentage and only three attack errors in the sweep. It marked the first time since at least 2004 – with individual match box scores not available before then – that a CCC program had posted an attack percentage that high with so few errors.

“It was just a really exceptional night, and something that I probably won't forget for my coaching career because I don't know that I'll see a team play as efficiently as we did that night,” SOU head coach Josh Rohlfing said.

Outside hitter Haley Kasler (Grants Pass, Ore./Hidden Valley) and libero Renee Yomtob (Boise, Idaho/Centennial) each earned CCC Player of the Week honors for their respective positions. Over the last five matches, Kasler has led the team with 62 kills (an average of 3.44 per set), while hitting .351. She has tallied double-digit kills in all but one of those matches. Over that same stretch, Yomtob has averaged 5.11 digs per set and the Raiders have gone 4-1 and won their past four.

Southern Oregon hopes to take the momentum from its four-match win streak and carry it forward against the Mountaineers and Coyotes. Eastern Oregon comes to town with a 3-1 conference record, 9-3 overall, and the Mountaineers lead the conference in hitting percentage (.225), assists (12.38 per set), kills (13.36) and digs (17.33).

Saturday's match against College of Idaho will continue a rivalry between the two teams that have dominated the conference for the past decade. The Yotes sit atop the conference standings with a 4-0 mark, 7-4 overall, and dropped two spots to No. 15 in the latest NAIA poll. The defensive-minded team leads the CCC in opponent hitting percentage (.116) and blocks (2.28).

“We know that we've got our work cut out for us, and we have to play to the top of our abilities this weekend,” Rohlfing said. “We know that both of these teams play very differently, but both play with a ton of energy and intensity. It always contributes to them being two very good matches on the weekend.”

The Raiders have a long and successful history against both teams, with a 70-24 all-time record against EOU and a 58-24 mark against C of I. Southern Oregon's 70 wins against EOU are the program's second-most against any team, behind only SOU's 85 wins against Oregon Tech (the 58 wins against C of I ranks third).

Eastern Oregon swept SOU in La Grande in the teams' first matchup last season, but the Raiders responded with back-to-back five-set victories over the Mountaineers in the regular-season finale and the CCC Tournament Semifinals. College of Idaho has been the Raiders' toughest opponent in the past eight years, winning 13 of 23 matchups since the start of the 2004 season. The teams split their regular-season matches in 2011, with both teams winning at home, and the Raiders swept the Yotes in the CCC Tournament Championship match for the second consecutive year.

“We're thrilled to be playing at home, and we feel like we're starting to come together as a group,” Rohlfing said. “It is going to be exceptionally good volleyball.”