ASHLAND – Looking for signs of progress at the turn of the Cascade Conference schedule, the Southern Oregon volleyball team found that and more with a five-set takedown of Walla Walla (Wash.) on Friday at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
The Raiders denied three match-point opportunities for the Wolves to steal a 25-22, 19-25, 25-23, 13-25, 17-15 decision, ending the afternoon with a 5-1 surge.
Andressa Ribeiro Soares delivered four kills and
Tessa Zimmermann had three blocks during the tiebreaker set, which
Jadyn Daviscourt nailed down with a service ace.
With the win, SOU (8-10 overall, 5-6 CCC) avenged a straight-set loss to WWU (7-7, 5-6) that occurred during a rocky first half of conference play. The teams are now tied for seventh place in the standings, and the Wolves, who are receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 poll, have lost four in a row.
Sophomore right-side hitter
Friley Curtiss led the Raiders with 14 kills on 32 attempts. She added four assisted blocks and four digs to her final line. With the Raiders trailing 14-12 in the final set, she and Zimmermann stared down WWU's Sahara Browning – one of the NAIA's most prolific attackers – and stuffed her at the net to keep SOU alive.
A Wolves attacking error then tied the score. After they reclaimed the lead with a block, the Raiders got back-to-back kills from
Maya Watters and Ribeiro Soares and Daviscourt's ace to clinch the match.
Ribeiro Soares and Watters totaled 13 kills apiece, and the former pulled in 14 digs for her sixth double-double. The floor defense from her,
Tais Vega (19 digs),
Annie Hite (18 assists, 9 digs) and Daviscourt (8 digs) proved critical in extending points late.
"Walla Walla is a good, experienced volleyball team and we felt like we turned a corner today by staying composed late," SOU coach
Josh Rohlfing said. "We continued to attack and kept them on their heels a bit."
The Raiders survived despite WWU's .177 to .089 advantage in attacking efficiency. Browning had 23 kills and Paula Flores accumulated 22 for the Wolves, but the disparity was due in large part to their 17 blocks. They combined for 12 while running away with the fourth set and building their lead in the fifth. Myckalya Shaver led the match with nine.
Zimmermann contributed six kills and six blocks for the Raiders.
Lanie Snow had four and four.
They host another team ahead of them at 6 p.m. Saturday in No. 14-ranked Lewis-Clark State (Idaho). In the teams' first matchup, the Warriors hung on in five after SOU lost a 24-20 lead in the fourth.
