ATHERTON, Calif. – The No. 20-ranked Southern Oregon volleyball team sprung to life following an alarmingly sluggish start to its stint at the Oak Invitational, downing UC Merced in four sets and Menlo (Calif.) in three Wednesday at Haynes-Prim Pavilion.
The Raiders surrendered the first 13 points and went down 16-1 in their first set of the afternoon, creating a sharp contrast when they breezed through the rest of the afternoon. They came back to defeat the Bobcats 14-25, 25-13, 27-25, 25-12 before sweeping the Oaks for the second time in five days by a score of 25-15, 25-22, 25-20.
Junior right-side hitter
Megan Perry dominated throughout the matches with 25 kills, averaging 3.6 per set on a .400 attacking average. She also had six blocks, while
Carlin Stroud led the team with 12 of them as the Raiders kept their opponents to a .098 combined average.
SOU moved to 5-1 entering Wednesday's matches – the team's last before entering Cascade Conference play – at 9 a.m. against Pacific Union (Calif.) and 2 p.m. against Simpson (Calif.).
Perry notched 14 kills on 24 attempts against Merced (0-2), which took its commanding lead thanks to Bianca Malaluan's six service aces and Alexa Ulteras' eight kills in the first set. The Raiders ceded just one ace over the final three sets and ultimately held Ulteras to a .154 clip.
Hannah Stadstad contributed seven kills without an error and assisted three of the Raiders' 15 blocks.
Vitoria Mattos steered a .175 attack with 17 assists,
Tais Vega had four aces and
Marin Mackey added three to go with nine kills. The Raiders swung the match with the tight third-set win, getting back-to-back kills from Perry and Stadstad after it was tied at 25.
The win over Menlo (3-3), fresh off its upset of No. 2 Corban last Saturday in Ashland, was more routine. Perry poured in 11 more kills and
Savannah Schwindt totaled a season-high eight.
Kayla Neidigh brought in 16 digs, giving her 30 on the day, and
Annie Hite went for 13 assists, four digs and three aces.
Five different Raiders totaled at least five kills, and they committed just 14 attacking errors compared to Menlo's 28. They jumped out to leads of 18-9 in the first frame, 8-2 in the second and 10-6 in the third.
