ASHLAND – A month after letting a lead slip away in the teams' first meeting, No. 24-ranked Southern Oregon didn't just exact revenge on No. 5 College of Idaho – the Raiders did it in a hurry on Friday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
A 25-20, 26-24, 25-23 sweep knocked the Yotes out of first place in the Cascade Conference and served as a major resume booster for SOU, which had dropped its last four matches against Top 25 opponents. All of those losses were on the road, however, and the Raiders will bring a 9-0 home record into another juicy matchup against No. 2 Eastern Oregon at 6 p.m. Saturday.
They bumped their record to 18-7 overall and 10-5 in the CCC, remaining one win out of third place. The Yotes, who overcame a 2-1 sets deficit to win in five the first time around against SOU, fell to 20-2 and 13-2 with their first straight-set loss.
The Raiders did it with a stout defense that pushed C of I to its second-lowest attacking mark (.130) of the year, and with a well-rounded attack that got 25 kills and just four errors combined from
Duda Leite,
Briella Mathis,
Maya Watters and
Tessa Zimmermann.
"Going into tonight it felt like we'd been really well connected all week, just kind of having this positive nature about them and letting the moment be fun, and they did all that tonight," SOU coach
Josh Rohlfing said. "We were nails on defense and in serve-receive and that really carried the night."
Friley Curtiss paced the Raiders with 14 kills and got going early to give them a 6-1 lead in the first set that they never lost. Clinging to a 21-20 edge, Leite put down two in a row to fuel a frame-ending 4-0 run.
The Raiders went up 24-18 in the second but needed back-to-back kills from Zimmermann and Curtis to survive after the Yotes tied the score with six straight points, the last three of which came from blocks. They never trailed in a tight third and Curtiss delivered the clinching swing.
Maelle Garon had 14 digs,
Jadyn Daviscourt came up big with 12 and
Katie White had seven to lead the back-row play. In the front,
Lanie Snow assisted seven of the team's 10 blocks. Setters
Annie Hite (18 assists) and
Isabelle Foote (15 assists) pushed the Raiders to a .216 clip.
Outside hitter Kelsy Stanger totaled 10 kills for the Yotes, but SOU limited their potent middles. Abigail Flerchinger, who entered the night with an attacking average over .300, was held to six kills compared to five errors on 22 swings. Jessica Stires, their kills leader, had just four.
SOU has defeated at least one top-six opponent in four consecutive years.
