ASHLAND – For the third year in a row and fifth time in six seasons, Southern Oregon is headed back to the final site of the NAIA Volleyball Championships. Its title-contender bona fides were reaffirmed in a commanding Opening Round sweep.
The Raiders, seeded No. 3 overall in the 48-team tournament, bounced Reinhardt (Ga.) by scores of 25-18, 25-12 and 25-17 on Saturday afternoon at Lithia Motors Pavilion. Their .341 attack, headed by
Megan Perry's nine kills, fired on all cylinders again. Their defense, spurred by
Sadie Byrd's six blocks, left the Eagles with a season-worse .029 average.
SOU will bring a 29-3 record to the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, where the 24 remaining teams will be split into eight pools. Those are scheduled to be revealed Sunday by the national office, and round-robin play begins Dec. 4-5.
In their eighth consecutive win – and seventh in straight sets during that span – the Raiders were as balanced as they've been all season.
Marin Mackey and
Hannah Stadstad pitched in eight kills apiece.
Mylena Testoni had five kills and 10 digs, and
Linda Conceicao totaled five kills and four blocks. Not a single player on the roster committed more than two attacking errors as setters
Vitoria Mattos (18 assists) and
Annie Hite (14 assists) helped the Raiders to their most efficient performance in a national tournament match since 2018.
Behind Byrd, who moved within seven blocks of breaking SOU's career record,
Kayla Neidigh controlled the floor with 16 digs.
Perry and Testoni jump-started the Raiders with four kills each in the first set. In the second, Testoni served them to an 8-0 lead with two service aces during the run. They took a six-point lead early in the third, where Stadstad delivered four kills and two blocks, and never looked back.
The Eagles, who finished second in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, finished at 25-8. They were making their first tournament appearance since 2020. Juliette Baffico led them with seven kills and seven digs, though she also accrued seven errors.
The Raiders advanced to the final site for the 13th time in program history. As the No. 3 overall seed – their top standing ever in the tournament – they'll be a No. 1 seed in pool play for the first time since 2019, which was also the last time they got through to the elimination bracket.
At the time of publication, 16 of 17 completed Opening Round matches had gone to the home teams. The only host eliminated so far was Jamestown (N.D.), the tournament's No. 7 overall seed.
