ASHLAND – The No. 6-ranked Corban volleyball team nipped No. 21 Southern Oregon in a tiebreaker on Friday for the second time this season, shrugging off a two-set deficit to win 23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-17, 17-15 at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
Emma Bischoff and Gret Van Emert accumulated16 kills apiece, and the former heated up as the match progressed before delivering the match-clinching points.
The Warriors (22-6 overall, 15-4 Cascade Conference) dominated the third and fourth sets and scored the first six points of the fifth before letting a 14-10 lead slip away. The Raiders tied it for the second time at 15-all on a
Friley Curtiss kill, but Bischoff responded with a big swing to give Corban its sixth shot at match point and nailed down the victory by teaming up with Gracee Robertson to deny Curtiss at the net.
The final point was in line with a familiar theme in the teams' two matchups: Corban had a 16-6 advantage in total blocks after working a 17-10 disparity in the first meeting. Eliana Klos assisted 10 of those blocks, Robertson was in on six and Van Gemert totaled five.
That defense brought the Raiders' team attacking average down to .117, their lowest since September.
Maya Watters led SOU with 15 kills, Curtiss had 14 and
Briella Mathis added 12.
Tessa Zimmermann went for nine on 23 attempts, making hers the most efficient performance on the squad.
Annie Hite spread out 29 assists and
Isabelle Foote had 16 in addition to four service aces.
Dani Street's 18 digs paced Corban. Nadeiah Howard turned in a double-double with 29 assists and 13 digs, as did Bischoff with 11 digs.
Thanks to losses by Bushnell at Oregon Tech and Lewis-Clark State against College of Idaho, the Raiders (20-9, 12-7) remained tied for fourth place entering the final day of the regular season. They'll face Bushnell at 4 p.m. Saturday.
If the Raiders can secure the No. 4 seed, they'll skip Tuesday's CCC Tournament play-in round and head to the final site for Thursday's quarterfinals.
