ASHLAND – In less than 24 hours, the Southern Oregon volleyball team went from absorbing a College of Idaho gut-punch to getting a gut check against Eastern Oregon. With first place back in the Raiders' possession, the sting didn't last long.

The No. 10-ranked Raiders took it back from No. 13 EOU with a 25-23, 23-25, 25-12, 25-23 win Saturday at Lithia Motors Pavilion, a night after a stunned crowd watched them take their first home loss against the No. 16 Yotes. Four players reached double figures in kills, led sophomore middle Makayla Hoyt, who stepped up with five of her 16 in the third set and seven more in the fourth.

SOU (18-2, 11-2 Cascade Conference) and EOU (15-5, 10-2) are tied in the loss column. But by completing their first regular-season sweep of the Mountaineers since 2010, the Raiders are assured of the head-to-head tiebreaker if it comes to that.

"There was a lot of intestinal fortitude tonight from some people who were playing pretty banged up," SOU head coach Josh Rohlfing said. "In contrast with last night, we weren't coaching effort at all. The effort was there – it felt like the polar opposite – and I thought we played really hard and downhill."

EOU entered the matchup with the top opponents' attacking average in the CCC (.094) but gave up a .248 mark against SOU, the highest mark for a Mountaineers opponent in 13 matches. Taylor Ristvedt poured in 14 kills on 25 attacks, Elliott Cook asserted herself with 10 kills on 20 attacks with just one error, and Dani Johnson added 10 more on 24 swings.

The Raiders scored the last three points of the match to avoid a tiebreaker set, going up 24-23 on back-to-back kills from Ristvedt and Hoyt. After a long rally on the next point, EOU appeared to tie it up when setter Madison Pilon dumped the ball into empty space. But Pilon's attack was ruled illegal for leaving her feet as a back-row setter after the ball had already dipped from just above net, sending the point to the Raiders.

EOU's prolific outside hitters, Hailee Ackerman (12 kills) and Megan Bunn (8 kills), were kept at a combined attacking average of .143 due in part to the strong work of SOU libero Emma Ryan (21 digs) and defensive specialist Myla Norvell (13 digs). As a team, EOU hit .144.

Natalie James finished with 31 assists and Hannah Bogatin had 26 with six digs in heading SOU's offense.

The Raiders improved to 9-1 at home, where they'll remain for Wednesday's 7 p.m. match against Oregon Tech. The Owls lost in five sets Saturday to College of Idaho, which remained one loss back of SOU and EOU.