FULLERTON, Calif. – During a grueling day at the Hope International Summer Slam, Southern Oregon pushed No. 14-ranked Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) to five sets and took one from No. 2 Bellevue (Neb.) in back-to-back losses on Friday inside Darling Pavilion.

Big days on the pins for Andressa Ribeiro Soares (29 kills) and Friley Curtiss (25 kills) weren't enough as the No. 6 Raiders fell 23-25, 25-15, 26-24, 20-25, 15-9 in the morning session to MVNU and 21-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-21 in the evening to Bellevue, last year's national runner-up.

Curtiss posted 13 kills in the opener, while Ribeiro Soares and Maya Watters had 12 apiece, but the Raiders were held back by 31 attacking errors as MNVU mounted 11 blocks. After pulling away with a 6-1 closing run in the fourth set, SOU used a 4-1 spurt to close MNVU's lead to 11-9 in the tiebreaker. Faith Maloney bookended the Cougars' final push with a block and a kill to end it.

MNVU's middles, Evelyn Brown and Eliana Morgan, were the difference with 24 kills combined on 35 attempts.

Ribeiro Soares amassed a career-high 17 kills against Bellevue, needing just 29 swings to do so. Curtiss had 12 and Duda Leite contributed 10.

Eve Fountain led the Bruins with 14 kills. She also accounted for four of their 16 service aces. They clung to a 21-20 lead in the fourth set and put the Raiders away with the help of Kealy Kiviniemi, who went for nine kills without an error.

The Raiders dropped to 2-3. They'll see a third nationally-ranked opponent, No. 23 The Master's (Calif.), at 2 p.m. Saturday before closing the tournament against host Hope International (Calif.) at 6 p.m.