ASHLAND – The difference at the top of the Cascade Conference standings is thin on paper and has been even thinner in practice. On Saturday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion, No. 9 Southern Oregon provided another example while hanging on for a five-set win against the Corban Warriors and keeping its hold on first place.

SOU has already defeated second-place Eastern Oregon and third-place College of Idaho in tiebreaker fashion, and now it has done the same to Corban – 25-17, 23-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12 – which started the night in fourth place. The Raiders (17-1 overall, 10-1 CCC) are still perfect at home, though they had to withstand a momentum-crushing fourth set and shrug off a 7-4 disadvantage in the fifth to stay that way.

Junior right-side Taylor Ristvedt had 17 kills, including three in the tiebreaker. Sophomore middle Makayla Hoyt had 16 kills on 26 attacks and senior Malie Rube, who only recently joined the starting lineup, put forth her best night of the season with 13 kills on 25 swings.

Tied 11-11 in the fifth, Ristvedt painted the back line for a kill and Hannah Bogatin followed with an ace. Corban's Adriana Aguayo cut the deficit to one with her own kill, but Rube answered and a Corban attacking error gave the Raiders their 15th point.

Bogatin also stepped up with season-highs of 23 assists, 9 digs and four aces to complement Natalie James' 33 assists and seven digs. They led the Raiders to a .308 attack compared to Corban's .253 clip.

SOU stopped a four-match losing streak against the Warriors, defeating them for the first time since 2015.

"That was another extremely important match for our team to go through," head coach Josh Rohlfing said. "The intensity has been building for the last three or four matches and we're getting to the point of our season where we need to be pushed and win some like that. Corban's obviously a really good team and it was fun to watch us battle them."

Cassie Cunningham and Avari Ridgway had team-highs of 12 kills apiece for the Warriors, who went to 10-8 and 6-3 in the CCC. They became the first opponent to take a set off SOU at Lithia Motors Pavilion.

SOU hitter Dani Johnson added 10 kills and Elliott Cook assisted six of the team's 11 blocks while taking one for herself. Emma Ryan had 10 digs, Myla Norvell had nine and Kiley Barcroft chipped in seven with three assists and two aces.

The Raiders will start the second time through the circuit next weekend with its most important homestand of the year: Friday against No. 12 College of Idaho and Saturday against No. 17 EOU.