ASHLAND – No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon served for two match-points in the third set, but No. 9 Corban foiled the sweep and carried the momentum through a 25-27, 22-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-13 comeback Friday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
Behind 17 kills from both Kendra Bittle and Makayla Roginski, the Warriors became the first team to erase a 2-0 set deficit in a win against SOU since they did it in 2017. Their fourth victory of the season against a top-11 opponent brought their record to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in the Cascade Conference, making them the only remaining unbeaten team in CCC play.
The Raiders (9-1, 3-1) saw their winning streak end at nine matches. After attacking at a .377 average through the first two sets against the circuit's top defense, they hit .103 the rest of the way.
They powered through the first set despite six missed serves, then led 16-8 in the second before a pair of
Megan Perry kills thwarted a late Warriors run. Up 24-22 in the third, they surrendered four straight points in a rally capped by Bittle and Jadah Schmidtke's joint block and a Marissa Uehara service ace.
The Raiders had their chances again in the fourth, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. Corban chipped away behind Bittle and Roginski, who took advantage of some stellar back-row defense to combine for 11 kills in the frame.
The Warriors never trailed after building a 4-2 lead to start the tiebreaker. They eventually brought it to 10-5, and after
Marin Mackey's kill trimmed SOU's deficit to 14-13, Roginski closed the match with her final kill on a second chance.
Allyson Reid and Emma Bischoff added 10 kills apiece for the Warriors, who managed a .206 attacking average – the highest for an SOU opponent this season – despite the Raiders' 13 blocks.
Linda Conceicao assisted seven and
Sadie Byrd had five of those blocks for SOU. The loss spoiled a career-best 21-kill performance from
Megan Perry, who needed only 39 attacks to do her damage at a blistering .436 clip. Conceicao had eight kills on 12 swings, while Mackey had 12 and
Hannah Stadstad contributed 11.
The Raiders are home again at 4 p.m. Saturday to face Bushnell, which will enter the match with a 3-1 CCC record.
