CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
FRIDAY'S MATCHES
9 a.m. – (3) SOU vs. (6) Lewis-Clark State (1st round)
12:30 p.m. – (4) Bushnell vs. (5) Evergreen (1st round)
4 p.m. – (2) Corban vs. highest remaining seed (semifinals)
7:30 p.m. – (1) Eastern Oregon vs. lowest remaining seed (semifinals)
SATURDAY'S MATCH
3 p.m. – Semifinal winners (championship)

LIVE STREAMS | TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University volleyball team could use a win at the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank to solidify its credentials as an at-large candidate for the national tournament. With an upset or two after that, the Raiders can lock in their spot automatically.

SOU (20-9 overall) opens play in the six-team tournament as the No. 3 seed against No. 6 seed Lewis-Clark State (16-11) in Friday's first round. The match is set for a 9 a.m. start at Quinn Coliseum in La Grande, where top-ranked Eastern Oregon earned hosting rights by claiming the CCC regular season title. If they win, the Raiders would move on to play No. 2 seed and fourth-ranked Corban (27-3) at 4 p.m. in the semifinals. The championship match is set for 3 p.m. Saturday.

POSTSEASON PICTURE: The tournament has never previously been played entirely at one site, and it's also never before featured a pair of top-four teams. Eastern Oregon already secured the CCC's first automatic bid to the 48-team NAIA National Tournament Opening Round, which will take place at 24 on-campus sites on Nov. 19. The 24 winners will advance to the final site, Sioux City, Iowa, to play out the rest of the tournament from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6. The CCC's second automatic Opening Round bid will be awarded to the conference tournament champion, unless EOU wins it, in which case it goes to the other finalist. If the Raiders don't get there, they're in good shape to receive an at-large bid after ranking No. 29 in this week's NAIA coaches' poll. The Opening Round field and matchups will be announced at 8 a.m. Monday.

SOU VS. LC STATE: At 14-8 in CCC play, the Raiders finished two wins ahead of the Warriors in the standings. They'll be meeting in the conference tournament for the first time after splitting their two regular-season matchups – SOU won 3-0 on Sept. 3 in Ashland, and LCSC won 3-1 on Oct. 7 in Lewiston, Idaho. Hailey Van Well, SOU's two-time all-conference outside hitter, combined for 30 kills in those outings. The Warriors rolled most recently by hitting .297 and holding the Raiders to three blocks – their lowest total of the season.

IF THEY ADVANCE: A win against LCSC would lock SOU into a 4 p.m. semifinal match against Corban, which has won 20 of its last 21 contests and took both ends of the season series against the Raiders. However, the Raiders pushed the Warriors in their first meeting by winning the first set 28-26 and leading the second 23-20 before things went south. Corban, which won each of the last two tournament titles, is loaded with hitters. The team's .255 attacking average is easily the best in the CCC, and it features 2021 CCC Player of the Year Avari Ridgway and 2022 CCC Player of the Year Rylee Troutman.

HOW THEY GOT HERE: The Raiders are back in the tournament after withstanding a barrage of injuries – they lost outside hitters Mylena Testoni and Hannah Stadstad for the season, were without all-rotation setter Hannah Randall for the last two weeks, and played the first part of the season without libero Karina Oliveira – and a bout with COVID-19 that forced two forfeits. They went 0-4 against EOU and Corban, but were 5-1 against the rest of the tournament field. The team has reached 20 wins for the 10th time in 15 years and finished top-three in the standings for the 11th time since Josh Rohlfing took over as head coach in 2007.

SOU TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Raiders lead all CCC teams with nine tournament titles, winning back-to-back most recently in 2018 and '19. After opting out of the 2020 season, the Raiders missed the CCC Tournament last year after going 9-13 in conference play to finish ninth with the circuit's youngest roster. Fifteen players are back from that team, but none have previously appeared in the postseason.