No. 24 RAIDER VOLLEYBALL (17-7, 9-5 CCC)
6 p.m. Friday – vs. No. 5 College of Idaho (20-1, 13-1) | Live Stats
6 p.m. Saturday – vs. No. 2 Eastern Oregon (24-1, 13-1) | Live Stats
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ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University volleyball team has never before hosted top-five opponents on back-to-back nights. College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon will change that this weekend at Lithia Motors Pavilion in a couple of massive Cascade Conference tilts.

With six regular-season matches left to play, the No. 24-ranked Raiders (17-7, 9-5) stand in fifth place but are just one match back of third in the loss column. They've won five of their last six entering matchups against the co-leaders, the No. 5 Yotes (20-1, 13-1) and No. 2 Mountaineers (24-1, 13-1). SOU will attempt to salvage series splits after facing them on the road six weeks ago, falling to the C of I in five sets and EOU in three.

NAIA TOP 25: The Mountaineers lost their grip on the top spot in Wednesday's new NAIA National Selection Committee poll, dropping to No. 2 due to last week's four-set slip-up at home against Corban. C of I – which took its lone loss last month at EOU – climbed three spots to No. 5 and Corban fell one spot to No. 6. The Raiders went down two slots to No. 24, as did Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) to No. 22. The next poll will be released Nov. 4, ahead of the final weekend of the regular season.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: The Raiders took care of business in a pair of must-have matches against the bottom half of the conference, defeating Oregon Tech in four sets at home and Warner Pacific in three on the road. Friley Curtiss and Tessa Zimmermann put 12 kills apiece on the Owls, whose .056 attacking average was their lowest in a month as they committed 18 unforced attacking errors. Briella Mathis had 12 kills and Marian Vega Castro added nine on 11 swings against the Knights, who have lost 27 consecutive matchups with SOU.

BRIEFLY:

• Sophomore libero Maelle Garon has the second-most service aces (43) and the third-most digs (330) in the conference. In CCC play, she is No. 5 on the leaderboard at 3.5 digs per set. Garon also owns the top service-reception percentage (95.3) among those with at least 200 chances (233), while Briella Mathis is at 96.6% on 118 attempts.
• SOU's team attacking average of .214 is the 39th-best in the NAIA. During the month of October, the Raiders are hitting .294.
• Mathis and Friley Curtiss are both averaging over 3.1 kills per set on a combined .300 attacking average in October. In conference play, Curtiss is No. 7 (2.7 kills) and Mathis is No. 24 (2.1) on the CCC kills leaderboard.
• Tessa Zimmermann ranks fourth in the circuit in CCC attacking average (.352). The senior middle is a career .308 attacker and needs 38 more kills to reach 500 as a Raider. Senior setter Annie Hite is 111 assists away from becoming the seventh Raider to reach 2,500.
• The Raiders are 8-0 at home, where they've faced one Top 25 opponent (then-No. 12 Lewis-Clark State). Six of their seven losses have been against Top 25 teams on the road.

ABOUT C OF I: Seeking their first regular-season title since 2013 after finishing as a No. 4 seed or worse each of the last six full seasons, the Yotes have stayed in the race by going 4-0 in five-set matches during conference play. One of those was against SOU on Sept. 12, when they erased a 2-1 sets deficit by logging 16 blocks to hold the Raiders to a .098 attack. Their opponents are hitting just .113 combined with middles Abigail Flerchinger (2.3 kills, 0.8 blocks), Alexa Wheeler (2.1 kills, 1.1 blocks) and Cora Young (1.5 kills, 0.9 blocks) – all standing 6-foot or taller – having big seasons. SOU is 72-40 in the all-time series. Each of the last three meetings between the teams has gone to a tiebreaker.

ABOUT EOU: The Mountaineers have won at least a share of four consecutive CCC regular-season championships and reached the NAIA semifinals three of the last four years. They're on the same trajectory in 2026 behind All-America outside hitter Keira Vaughn, a 6-footer who is one of the most prolific (3.9 kills/set) and efficient (.381 average) attackers in the conference. Brooke Womack (2.9 kills, .284), an All-CCC senior right side, is another key piece to a well-rounded attack that is producing the NAIA's second-best average (.308) with reigning CCC Setter of the Year Kate Stidham running the show. SOU is 83-43 in the series with EOU and has won five of seven matchups since the start of 2024.