RAIDER VOLLEYBALL (7-10, 4-6 CCC)
12 p.m. Friday – vs. Walla Walla (7-6, 5-5) | Live Stats
6 p.m. Saturday – vs. No. 14 Lewis-Clark State (10-3, 7-3) | Live Stats
TICKETS | LIVE STREAMS

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon volleyball team has a chance to make up some ground in the standings as the second half of the Cascade Conference schedule starts this weekend at Lithia Motors Pavilion.

SOU (7-10 overall, 4-6 CCC) is one win back of sixth-place Walla Walla (Wash.) (7-6, 5-5) entering the teams' matinee matchup at noon Friday. The Raiders will attempt to atone for September's straight-set loss to the Wolves before getting another crack at No. 14-ranked Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (10-3, 7-3), a team that denied three SOU match-points to win their first meeting in five sets, at 6 p.m. Saturday.

NAIA TOP 25: The Raiders dropped out of the NAIA coaches' poll last week for the first time since 2022 after struggling to prop themselves up in a conference that has proven again to be the best in the country. The CCC currently has four top-15 teams: No. 1 Eastern Oregon, No. 4 Corban, No. 14 Lewis-Clark State and No. 15 College of Idaho. Northwest (Wash.) entered the poll at No. 23, while Walla Walla and Bushnell are receiving votes at Nos. 27 and 28 overall, respectively. Of SOU's 10 losses, seven were against current Top 25 teams.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: Northwest's attack fired on all cylinders with 55 kills and only 15 attacking errors in the Eagles' 25-19, 25-18, 20-25, 25-18 win against SOU last Friday. On Saturday, the Raiders enjoyed their most efficient performance in 48 matches dating back to last season with a .437 attacking average in a 25-15, 25-11, 25-11 sweep at Evergreen. Maya Watters had 15 kills, Friley Curtiss dropped in 11, and Annie Hite logged 20 assists and four service aces.

BRIEFLY:

• The Raiders have three individuals among the top-15 on the CCC kills leaderboard: Andressa Ribeiro Soares (2.9/set), Maya Watters (2.9/set) and Friley Curtiss (2.7/set). Ribeiro Soares is the only player on that list who is also top-15 in digs (2.9/set). As a team, the Raiders rank fifth in CCC attacking average (.183).
• Tais Vega has compiled double-figure dig totals in seven of SOU's last eight matches. During the stretch she is averaging 3.6 per set, which would rank seventh in the conference. Sixteen more will give Vega 300 for her SOU career.
• Head coach Josh Rohlfing is four wins away from the 400th win in his 19 seasons at SOU.
• The Raiders are 4-4 at home this season after going 26-4 in 2023 and '24 combined.

ABOUT WALLA WALLA: Though they've lost three consecutive matches to a few CCC heavyweights, the Wolves have already reached new heights entering the second half. They feature one of the NAIA's most electric outside hitters in Sahara Browning (4.2 kills/set, .238) and this season added to the mix Cuban setter/right-side hitter Yaimaris Garcia (2.8 kills/set, 6.2 assists/set), a 6-foot freshman. They'd been 0-16 all-time against the Raiders before handily defeating them 25-13, 25-16, 25-22 behind 18 Browning kills.

ABOUT LC STATE: The Raiders will see an even more prolific attacker Saturday in LC State's Juliauna Forgach Aguilar, who is fifth on the NAIA kills leaderboard at 4.4 per set. She had 17 in the first meeting – a 23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24, 15-12 Warriors victory in which SOU served with a 24-20 lead in the fourth set – but the bigger issue in that one was LC State's 18-6 advantage in blocks. The Warriors have lost three of their last four, all against the CCC's best, and SOU is 25-8 in the all-time series.