NAIA INVITATIONAL | Arizona Athletic Grounds | Mesa, Ariz.
Thursday's Schedule
10 a.m. – No. 1 SOU vs. No. 5 Ave Maria (Fla.) (Pool Play)
2 p.m. – No. 1 SOU vs. No. 8 Wayland Baptist (Texas) (Pool Play)
Friday's Schedule
10 a.m. – No. 1 SOU vs. No. 4 Ottawa (Ariz.) (Pool Play)
2:30 or 4:30 p.m. – TBD (Quarterfinals)
Saturday's Schedule
10 a.m. – TBD (Semifinals)
1 p.m. – TBD (Championship)

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University volleyball team will bring the best record in the country, the No. 1 ranking and national championship aspirations this week to Mesa, Ariz., for the NAIA Invitational.

Appearing at the tournament for the second year in a row, the Raiders (19-2 overall) are back with a 15-dual winning streak that brought them their first Cascade Conference regular season and tournament championships. They earned the No. 1 spot in the poll for the first time last week, claiming all six first-place votes, but have only faced one of the other teams that will be in attendance at the Invitational.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: The tournament field was divided into two four-team pools based on final rankings. The Raiders have their first two pool play contests on Thursday, at 10 a.m. against No. 5 Ave Marie (Fla.) and 2 p.m. against No. 8 Wayland Baptist (Texas), and their third against No. 4 Ottawa (Ariz.) at 10 a.m. Friday.

How critical are the pool contests? Not very if you ask Ottawa, which went 1-2 last year before going on to win the title. That's because pool play only determines seeding for the single-elimination bracket, to which all eight teams will advance. The quarterfinals are set for 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Friday, the semifinals for 10 a.m. Saturday, and the championship for 1 p.m. Saturday.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY: SOU went 2-1 in pool play as the No. 8 seed last year – scoring a 4-1 win against the eventual champion, Ottawa – and defeated Mobile (Ala.) in the quarterfinals before dropping a 3-2 decision to Corban in the semis.

The 2026 season marks the Invitational's fifth of existence. The previous champions were Corban in 2022, Vanguard (Calif.) in 2023 and 2024, and Ottawa in 2025. Corban has made three championship-round appearances and Vanguard is no longer part of the NAIA.

TEAMS TO WATCH: Based on the rankings, the championship trophy leaving the West region would be a major surprise. Ottawa (20-7 overall) went 14-0 in the Great Southwest Athletic Conference and was No. 1 in the rankings all year until going 1-2 in the GSAC Tournament, where its lineup was altered due to injury. The Master's (Calif.) (18-6) won the GSAC Tournament to jump to No. 2 in the poll and has won nine in a row since a rocky start that included a 4-1 loss to Corban. Speaking of the No. 3 Warriors (24-7), they've lost four consecutive matchups to SOU but were competitive in each of them and had won eight straight in the series prior to the active skid.

LIVE STATS/STREAM: Live results will be provided for each dual at the Invitational. For the first time, the championship dual will also be live streamed at a link that will be posted to the SOU schedule page when provided. The rest of the tournament will not be streamed.

SOU PROBABLE LINEUP:
1. Grace Gulbrandsen/Tessa Zimmermann (13-6)
2. Molly Grace/Kira Sandoval (15-3)
3. Maelle Garon/Andressa Ribeiro Soares (20-1)
4. Amanda Moffat/Kaitlyn Shilling (14-7)
5. Kendal Hadwick/Natalie Perez (18-3)