ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University volleyball team ran into a No. 2-ranked buzzsaw in Eastern Oregon on Saturday night, losing a 25-21, 25-13, 25-20 Cascade Conference decision at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
The Mountaineers (26-1 overall, 15-1 CCC) kept sole possession of first place in the standings by putting up a .374 attacking average and 14 service aces. Among SOU opposition this season, the former mark had been outdone only by EOU in the teams' first meeting and the latter was a season high.
The No. 24 Raiders (18-8, 10-6), fresh off Friday's upset of No. 5 College of Idaho, dropped in 17 kills and only one attacking error in the first set and had nothing to show for their efforts. The EOU defense tightened up by holding them to 16 kills compared to 14 errors the rest of the way.
EOU ended SOU's home winning streak, which dated back to last season, at 13 matches. The Mountaineers only trailed at one point: 2-1 in the first set.
Kate Stidham conducted the Mountaineers' .374 attack with 35 assists to go with eight digs and three aces. Keira Vaughn downed 13 kills, Akylah Kaino checked in with 11, and Madison Vaughn had four more aces.
Friley Curtiss' seven kills led SOU.
Duda Leite,
Maya Watters and
Tessa Zimmermann had six apiece, and
Maelle Garon corralled 12 digs.
With four matches left in the regular season, the Raiders stand tied with Bushnell for fifth place. They've already clinched a spot in the eight-team CCC Tournament entering next weekend's matches at 10th-place Evergreen (Wash.) and ninth-place Northwest (Wash.).
