7 p.m. Friday - #16 SOU at Northwest Christian – Live Stream – Live Stats
5 p.m. Saturday - #16 SOU at Corban – Live Stream/Stats

ASHLAND – The 16^th-ranked Southern Oregon volleyball team is back on the road for the final weekend of the regular season, looking to lock up the No. 2 seed in the Cascade Conference Championships and a bye to the semifinal round.

The Raiders (22-3 overall, 15-3 CCC) will visit Northwest Christian (14-11, 7-11) at 7 p.m. Friday and Corban (14-10, 9-9) at 5 p.m. Saturday. They haven't seen either team since the first weekend of the regular season, a full two months ago, when they defeated both in straight sets at Riehm Arena.

Corban has already clinched a spot in the six-team tournament field and could finish as high as fourth or as low as sixth. NCU is one loss or an Oregon Tech (9-9) win from being eliminated with a head-to-head matchup against the Owls on tap for Saturday.

The Raiders are a match up in the loss column on third-place College of Idaho, but the Yotes finish the regular season against 10^th-place Walla Walla and own the tiebreaker with SOU if necessary. That means the Raiders likely need two wins to avoid playing in the first round of the CCC tournament next Tuesday. Get the No. 2 seed as planned, and they'll be able to skip ahead to the semifinals, which will be held along with the championship match in La Grande as league champion Eastern Oregon hosts the final site.

EOU clinched the title in four sets last Friday in Ashland, but the Raiders bounced back with a five-set win as thrilling as it was pivotal Saturday against C of I. The win was No. 199 of head coach Josh Rohlfing's career at SOU, and with one more he'll become the third Raider coach to ever reach 200.

NAIA Top 25: Eastern Oregon suffered a letdown the night after clinching the CCC title, losing in five sets at Oregon Tech, which hurt the Raiders along with the Mountaineers: EOU dropped two spots in the poll to No. 12 and SOU dropped two spots to No. 16. C of I, on the other hand, jumped into the rankings for the first time since the preseason at No. 25. Missouri Baptist took over the top spot for the first time in school history.

Should the Raiders finish strong through the CCC tournament, they still have a chance to host an NAIA opening-round match on Nov. 21 for the year season in a row.

CCC Setter of the Week: For the fourth time this season and the fifth time in her career, SOU setter Lauren McGowne was voted the Cascade Conference setter of the week after pouring in 161 assists in 13 sets last week. The junior had a career-high 60 assists in the comeback win over C of I, and on the same night became the fifth Raider to ever hit 3,000 assists for her career. She's at 3,037 overall, and her 11.8 assists per set this season rank first in the NAIA.

Quick Hits:
– If SOU finishes in second place, it'd be the Raiders' 14^th top-two finish in the last 16 years in the CCC.
– No one other than SOU, EOU or C of I has won the CCC regular-season title since Concordia in 2002.
– On the NAIA leaderboards, SOU is third as a team in kills per set (14.1) and Emma Gasman is 12^th individually in attacking average (.361).
– Since the beginning of last season, the Raiders are 9-2 in five-set matches. They're 3-0 this year
– Among the leaders for all teams in CCC play, only two of the top-10 individuals in attacking average are seniors, only two of the top-10 in kills per set are seniors, and only one of the top-10 in assists per set are seniors.