cook
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
3
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 5-3, 3-1 CCC
2
Warner Pacific WPC 2-4, 2-4 CCC
Winner
Southern Oregon SOU
5-3, 3-1 CCC
3
Final
2
Warner Pacific WPC
2-4, 2-4 CCC
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Southern Oregon SOU 23 25 25 29 15 (3)
Warner Pacific WPC 25 27 21 27 13 (2)

Game Recap: Volleyball | | SOU Sports Information

SOU rallies, survives another marathon at Warner Pacific

PORTLAND – Southern Oregon remains nearly untouchable in tiebreaker sets, though that fact likely did little to temper the panic caused by dropping the first two sets against Warner Pacific on Friday night at Perry Gym.

SOU's 23-25, 25-27, 25-21, 29-27, 15-13 comeback win over the Knights marked its fourth five-set victory and third in Cascade Collegiate Conference matches. It made the Raiders 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the CCC this season, and it made them 16-2 in five-set matches since the start of 2014.

Another outstanding show put on by their freshman middles made it possible: Elliott Cook posted season bests of 14 kills on 26 attacks and eight blocks, and Makayla Hoyt stood beside her with 13 kills on 26 swings and five blocks. Together, they drove SOU to a .272 attacking average and 13 total blocks.

Right-side hitter Taylor Ristvedt (11 kills, 4 blocks) and outside hitter Malie Rube (11 kills) also came up big, getting a hand from setters Hannah Bogatin (38 assists) and Natalie James (24 assists), while libero Ashlyn Flynn recorded a match-high 22 digs and delivered two of the most unlikely and pivotal kills of the night.

After dropping the opening two sets by slim margins, the Raiders busted open a 21-21 tie in the third with four straight points as Rube and Ristvedt dropped in kills and the front line coaxed WPC's Jenna Mast, the leading hitter in the conference, into consecutive errors.

Mast's massive night included a whopping 28 kills on 64 swings – she hit .281 overall – and the Raiders had to overcome 10 of them in a marathon fourth set. They served for set point unsuccessfully three times in the frame before the Knights flipped it on them, going up 27-26 on an Alana Jennings service ace. Flynn tied it with a kill out of the back row, and consecutive Rube kills gave SOU a win in its longest set in two years.

With SOU up 11-10 in the fifth, Cook provided some breathing room by delivering a kill and teaming up with Ristvedt for a block. And after Knights kills by Melisa Ljuca and Mast, Flynn came through with her second kill from the back to make it 14-12. Mast answered with her final kill, but a WPC service error finally ended the match.

Ariana Sattler helped the Raiders pull through with eight kills and four blocks, and Johnson finished with seven kills.

The Raiders are 18-0 on WPC's home floor all-time in CCC play.

At 5 p.m. Saturday, they'll go for their fourth straight win at Multnomah.
 
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