6 p.m. Thursday – Simpson (Calif.) at SOU
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ASHLAND – On Dec. 6, 2019, the Southern Oregon University volleyball team exited the NAIA National Tournament after completing a second straight 30-win season, which would prove good enough to secure a second straight top-10 postseason ranking. The Raiders had won back-to-back Cascade Conference regular season and tournament championships, and figured to be back to defend those titles with a roster bolstered by All-Americans.

It seemed to mark another momentous checkpoint for a program on a roll. It was, instead, the last time the Raiders would take the floor for more than 20 months.

When they finally retake the floor on Thursday, fans will see a team that has been completely retooled by 15th-year coach Josh Rohlfing. Of the 16 players who contributed during the 2019 run, 13 are gone, including every starter and a smorgasbord of all-stars.

In lieu of the battle-tested lineup that was in place before the layoff is a group whose nerves Rohlfing knows will be on display for a preseason tune-up. But he and the Raiders are reveling in the chance to build something new.

"I guess what I and everyone else has been able to process over the last year is that the pressure of the game isn't important in the scheme of our community and lives, but it's something we should embrace and have fun with," he said. "We're just so excited to get to play and see where we are. As it stands, we have a lot of tools that could make us successful, it just comes down to when come together and how much experience we can get in a short amount of time."

PRESEASON POLLS: Despite the unproven nature of their roster, respect for the Raiders' recent history resulted in the No. 25 spot in the NAIA preseason coaches' poll. Excluding the modified winter/spring 2021 season, of which they opted out, they've been listed in five of the last six preseason polls. They were picked third in the CCC coaches' poll, behind sixth-ranked Eastern Oregon and No. 15 Corban. EOU won the last regular-season title and fell to Corban for the tournament title, but both teams advanced to the national tournament.

FIRST UP: The Raiders will open at 6 p.m. Thursday with Simpson (Calif.), which also opted out of 2020-21 but went 6-22 overall and 3-13 in the California Pacific Conference the year prior. Fans are welcome to attend, and masks are required to be worn inside of Lithia Motors Pavilion by all non-participants regardless of vaccination status. The Raiders will complete their nonleague slate with four matches at the William Jessup Invitational on Aug. 27-28, then open the 22-match CCC schedule at Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Sept. 3.

NEW IN TOWN: Of the 19 individuals who make up the roster, eight have yet to appear in a collegiate match and 16 have yet to appear on the floor for SOU. Seven are new to the team this season:
– Trinity Atuatasi, a defensive specialist who played the last two seasons at Rogue C.C. and earned all-conference status in both. As a freshman, she ranked third among all NWAC players at 5.6 digs per set.
– Kylie Blankinship, an outside hitter/defensive specialist from Portland who last season competed at Reinhardt U. (Ga.), which won the NAIA's Appalachian Athletic Conference. She averaged 1.25 kills per set after a standout prep career at Westview High.
– Ani Farmer, a middle who played three seasons at Ashland High and her senior year at Cascade Christian, earning all-state second team accolades.
– Carol Melo, a middle from Brazil who – like the team's other Brazilian, Karina Oliveira – transferred from Barton C.C. (Kan.). There, she posted an efficient 1.9 kills and 1.0 blocks per set.
– Hannah Randall, a setter and transfer from College of Southern Idaho, where she compiled 288 assists last season.
– Savannah Schwindt, an outside hitter/middle who was part of four league championship teams at Sheldon High.
– And, finally, Hannah Stadstad, a right-side hitter and all-state performer from West Albany High.
 
Said Rohlfing of the class: "You need to make sure you have depth whenever you construct a team, but especially right now when everything is so in flux and you never know when you could lose someone for a while. So we feel like we created some really strong depth at every position, and ultimately the competition could push them to be ready a lot sooner than they would have been otherwise. It's going to serve this particular team really well I think."

POSITION BY POSITION:
SETTERS: The Raiders have used a two-setter system since 2017. They don't have any back, but they have three capable ones to choose from who are broken in at the college level. In addition to the aforementioned Randall, Gwen Sheldon played two seasons at Laramie County C.C. (Wyo.) and was a conference all-star, and Taylor Russell compiled the highest assist total in team history in her two seasons at Lane C.C. Both arrived at SOU last fall.

"We felt we needed to bring in experience at setter if there wasn't going to be as much at other positions," Rohlfing said. "Gwen's ability to run tempo and distribute is as good as it gets, Taylor is a really intelligent player who got to start on a title-winning team, and Hannah can distribute at every angle and run down balls at 6-foot-1. It would be foolish of me not to play all three of them at this point."

DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS: In her fifth year with the team, Kadyn Jones is the most battle-tested of any Raider. She averaged 2.4 digs per set for one of the NAIA's top floor defenses in addition to serving as a part-time setter in 2019, and Rohlfing believes her return solidified the back row. Karina Oliveira will be just as prominent after coming to the Raiders last year via Barton County C.C., where she ranked second nationally in digs per set (6.7). Kayla Neidigh is entering her second season with the team, too, after starring at West Salem High, and Atuatasi's skillset gives SOU formidable depth again.

"Kadyn's a phenomenal leader with an insane work ethic, and she and Karina are really 1A and 1B," Rohlfing said. "Kayla has developed to where there's no doubt in my mind she's ready to play for us, and we just recently got Trinity back but we know what she can do too.

HITTERS: Two-time CCC Player of the Year Taylor Ristvedt's graduation created a major void, but Rohlfing believes SOU's right-side position could be a strength again anyway. Senior Chanel Groom is back after appearing in nine matches in 2019 and Simone Gordon was considered a key addition after averaging 1.6 kills per set as a freshman at Concordia (Ore.), the closing down of which necessitated her move. The freshman of the group, Stadstad, has also impressed early.

"Chanel's block is as good as we've had, Simone's arm is one of the quickest we've had, and Stadstad's athleticism is unbelievable," Rohlfing said. "I'm really excited about them and they're all pretty interchangeable with the outsides."

On the outside, Shelby Young and Katie Vroman are returning for their third seasons. Vroman sat out 2019 due to injury, while Young demonstrated explosiveness with 1.3 kills per set on a .271 average in her 45 frames of action. Hailey Van Well, who joined the Raiders as a freshman last year, can play six rotations at 5-11 and enjoyed an all-state career at Dallas High. The two newcomers, Blankinship and Schwindt, will be in the mix too.

"There's a lot of skill and athleticism in that group," Rohlfing said. "I'm excited to see who steps it up when we get into matches because I believe we have some big potential there."

MIDDLES: In addition to Ristvedt, SOU has two more All-Americans to replace in middles Elliott Cook and Makayla Hoyt. Melo, the newcomer from Barton, is the only current Raider to have played in a collegiate match, though Sadie Byrd has been in the program since 2019. The others in the rotation are Taylor Jackson, who came to the Raiders last year from Bellarmine Prep, and Farmer.

"As a whole the group is at a pretty similar level," Rohlfing said. "They're going to shake out based on what happens in matches because it's splitting hairs right now to determine a pecking order."