No. 5 RAIDER VOLLEYBALL (9-0, 3-0 CCC)
6 p.m. Friday – vs. No. 9 Corban (7-1, 3-0) | Live Stats
4 p.m. Saturday – vs. Bushnell (7-4, 2-1) | Live Stats
LIVE STREAMS | TICKETS

ASHLAND – There is no let-up in the No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon volleyball team's Cascade Conference schedule with two more crucial matches on tap this weekend at Lithia Motors Pavilion.

The Raiders (9-0 overall, 3-0 CCC) took down one juggernaut last weekend, but another is on the way. They'll welcome in No. 9 Corban (7-1, 3-0), the only other remaining unbeaten team in CCC play, for their second top-10 tilt in a week at 6 p.m. Friday. At 4 p.m. Saturday, Bushnell (7-4, 2-1) visits just a few weeks removed from taking the NAIA's No. 1 team, Northwestern (Iowa), to five sets.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: The Raiders' 2-0 weekend against College of Idaho and No. 2 Eastern Oregon marked the first time they'd swept that particular homestand in 10 years. The Mountaineers – who went down 25-20, 25-20, 20-25, 25-19 on Saturday – became the highest-ranked opponent SOU has ever defeated in conference play as their 26-match overall regular-season winning streak and six-match head-to-head winning streak against the Raiders came to an end. Right-side hitter Megan Perry led the Raiders with 18 kills against C of I before sitting due to injury against EOU. Marin Mackey (18 kills, 14 digs, 4 blocks), Mylena Testoni (12 kills, 11 digs) and Hannah Stadstad (11 kills, 6 blocks) stepped up on the pins, and Friley Curtiss filled in with eight kills in her third appearance of the season.

BYRD, MATTOS GET CCC KUDOS: Sadie Byrd and Vitoria Mattos were voted CCC Players of the Week due to the big parts they played in the wins. Byrd garnered the top defensive honor after posting a season-high eight blocks against EOU and adding three more against C of I. The senior middle anchored an effort at the net that sunk the opponents' combined attacking average to .169. Mattos was the setter of the week for dropping 55 assists and leading the Raiders to attacking averages of .255 and .233. The senior currently leads all CCC setters with a clip of 6.3 assists per set.

BRIEFLY:

• To extend their winning streak to 10, the Raiders would have to knock off top-10 opponents in consecutive matches for the first time in team history. They've opened three previous seasons at 10-0: in 1991 (17-0), 2015 (15-0) and 2018 (14-0).
• Kayla Neidigh has recorded double-figure digs in eight of nine matches and is at a career-high 4.1 per set. She moved up to No. 10 on SOU's all-time list last week by bringing her career total to 1,091 digs.
• Megan Perry's .361 attacking average is second-best among CCC players. She is also No. 7 in kills per set (3.0) and one of two players among the top-seven on both leaderboards.
• Hannah Stadstad's All-America candidacy went into full force halfway through last season, and the senior right-side showed signs of a similar gear-switch last weekend with 26 kills (3.3/set) on a .236 average. Marin Mackey also continued her dominance with 31 kills and has now recorded six consecutive double-doubles with kills and digs, making her the first Raider to do so since Josh Rohlfing became head coach in 2007. She ranks fifth on the CCC kills leaderboard (3.6/set).
• SOU's team attacking average (.258) is the sixth-highest in the NAIA. Last year's Raiders were 11th in that category (.250).
• A strong weekend would put the Raiders in position to attain a new highest ranking in team history when the next NAIA Top 25 poll is released Wednesday. Their current ranking is tied for the highest, having previously been achieved by the 2019 squad.

ABOUT CORBAN: The Warriors are contenders again despite graduating an NAIA Attacker of the Year. They've won seven in a row after an opening-day hiccup in Ashland, where they were swept by then-No. 14 Bellevue (Neb.), and have already knocked off three top-11 opponents. Emma Bischoff (2.8 kills) and Makayla Roginski (2.7 kills) head an attack that also features the CCC's most efficient hitter, middle Jadah Schmidtke (1.8 kills, .474 average). Defensively, they lead the circuit in blocks (2.8/set) and opponents' average (.049). SOU is 57-20 in the series but has dropped seven of the last eight matchups.

ABOUT BUSHNELL: Of the Beacons' four losses, three have been against teams that are either ranked or receiving votes. The most recent was a straight-set decision Tuesday against Corban, but they'd entered that night on a seven-match winning streak. Hailey Heider (2.8 kills), Leah Agost (2.7) and Ariana Guerra (2.5) give them a variety of quality weapons, and Bella Parque is an All-CCC honorable mention libero. The Raiders are 31-5 all-time against Bushnell, winners of six straight and 11 of the last 12 in the series.