ASHLAND – Taylor Ristvedt and Maddie Pernich provided the boost fifth-ranked Southern Oregon needed to survive No. 20 College of Idaho's upset bid on Friday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion, lifting the Raiders to fourth- and fifth-set wins in a Cascade Conference battle.

Ristvedt poured in 20 more kills and Pernich recorded eight of her 13 in the last two sets of the 26-24, 20-25, 18-25, 25-18, 15-9 defeat of the Yotes (9-4 overall, 4-3 CCC), which made the Raiders 15-2 overall and 6-1 in CCC play. Both had four kills in the tiebreaker, when they turned around a 7-6 deficit by taking six consecutive points.

The win kept SOU one game back of first-place Corban and tied with No. 8 Eastern Oregon, which will be in Ashland on Saturday for a 7 p.m. matchup.

While Ristvedt and Pernich provided the offense, Elliott Cook and Makayla Hoyt controlled the middle defensively with eight blocks apiece, and the Raiders totaled a season-high 16 collectively. Nila Lukens was in on five of them.

Emma Ryan (20 digs) and Sara Fanger (13 digs) held down the back row, and helped hold the Yotes to 19 kills with 15 errors in the final two sets.

"To play as poorly as we did in the first two and a half sets and come out with a victory against a good C of I team says a lot about our fortitude," SOU coach Josh Rohlfing said. "We plugged away and continued to improve throughout the night, and the energy our crowd gave us was imperative."

Ashley Pagan and Jordyn Boswell led the Yotes with 14 kills apiece, but they also combined for 20 errors.

The Raiders had to labor to steal the first set after C of I scored eight straight for a 23-19 lead. Ristvedt put them on her back with three kills and a block during the comeback.

Pagan tallied nine of her kills while the Yotes won the second and third convincingly. Middle Kaydre Thompson gave them another spark, finishing with 11 kills and nine assisted blocks.

SOU took over the fourth set with a 9-1 run to go up 18-8 while Pernich heated up. After putting down just one kill on 10 swings in the second and third combined, she had eight on 13 without an error in the fourth and fifth.

Trailing 7-6 in the fifth, a pair of Pernich kills and a Fanger ace keyed the spurt that swung the match.

Hannah Bogatin had 29 assists and Tehani Faitau had 23 for the Raiders, who attacked .160. Cook added eight kills and Hoyt had six.

Freshman setter Abby Guin had 50 assists for the Yotes, directing them to a .128 attack.