No. 17 RAIDER VOLLEYBALL (12-6, 4-4 CCC)
6 p.m. Friday – vs. Northwest (6-11, 2-6) | Live Stats
6 p.m. Saturday – vs. Evergreen (2-10, 1-7) | Live Stats
TICKETS | LIVE STREAMS

ASHLAND – The No. 17-ranked Southern Oregon University volleyball team wraps up the first half of the Cascade Conference schedule this weekend with a pair of must-have matches at Lithia Motors Pavilion.

The bottom-five teams in the standings have yet to steal a win from the top six, and the Raiders (12-6 overall, 4-4 CCC) will attempt to keep it that way against ninth-place Northwest (Wash.) (6-11, 2-6) on Friday and 10th-place Evergreen (Wash.) (2-10, 1-7) on Saturday. Both matches start at 6 p.m.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: The good news is that the Raiders have gotten all of their road matches out of the way against the teams currently occupying the top-four spots in the CCC, setting up a chance to climb in the second half. The bad news is they didn't win any of them after coming up empty last Friday at Bushnell and Saturday at No. 6-ranked Corban. Bushnell swept SOU, 25-21, 31-29, 25-19, by controlling play at the net with a 15-3 advantage in blocks. Corban came from behind to claim a five-set affair – 25-20, 20-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-12 – in which the Raiders held a 10-7 fifth-set lead. Friley Curtiss had a season-high 18 kills and Annie Hite went for 33 assists and 13 digs, but Warriors middle Gracee Robertson came up big late to finish with 10 kills and 10 blocks.

NAIA TOP 25: Beginning on Oct. 6, the NAIA will transition from a coaches' poll to a Top 25 constructed by the National Selection Committee – the same body that chooses the NAIA Tournament field. The Raiders will have played six matches between polls; the last one was released on Sept. 16. The CCC had five teams in the Top 25: No. 1 Eastern Oregon, No. 4 College of Idaho, No. 6 Corban, No. 11 Lewis-Clark State and No. 17 SOU, making it the most represented conference. Bushnell figures to jump into the next one and EOU is likely to retain the top spot after remaining unbeaten on Wednesday by handing College of Idaho its first loss.

BRIEFLY:

• All-CCC junior right-side hitter Friley Curtiss continued to heat up last week, recording double-digit kills for the second and third consecutive outings. She has posted at least nine in six of her last seven and, in conference play, ranks 11th among CCC players with an average of 2.5 per set.
• Senior setter Annie Hite has now turned in five double-doubles with assists and digs this season, and her total of 33 assists last Saturday at Corban was the fourth-highest of her career. At 1.8 digs per set in conference play, she leads all setters who play within 6-2 rotations. She has also moved up to No. 6 on SOU's all-time assists list (2,249).
• Tessa Zimmerman had 14 kills compared to two attacking errors last week. Her .364 attacking average is fourth on the CCC leaderboard, and teammate Marian Vega Castro (.342) ranks sixth.
• Sophomore libero Maelle Garon has the second-most service aces (33) and third-most digs (242) in the CCC.
• The Raiders are 5-0 at home this season and have won eight regular season matches in a row at Lithia Motors Pavilion dating back to last year. They're 87-22 at home since moving into LMP in 2018.