ASHLAND – According to the Cascade Conference preseason coaches' poll, the Southern Oregon University volleyball team is expected to be right back in the mix of championship contenders in 2026.

Eastern Oregon was picked to defend its title, Corban was picked second, and SOU and College of Idaho tied for the third-most votes in the conference, which produced an NAIA-best seven national tournament qualifiers last year. Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Bushnell, Oregon Tech and Northwest (Wash.) rounded out the top eight.

SOU, which received one first-place vote, debuts Friday at Lithia Motors Pavilion in the Raider Invitational, playing Simpson (Calif.) at 10 a.m. and Saint Mary (Neb.) at 6 p.m. Season and single-match tickets are available now at souraiders.com/tickets.

The Raiders are coming off a 16-12 season in which they went 12-8 in conference matches to take sixth place. After putting together the best season in team history a year earlier – going 32-4 and advancing to the national semifinal round – the 2025 team had to replace an entire starting lineup but found its footing with three NAIA Top 25 wins over the final three weeks of the regular season, including an upset at top-ranked EOU. The season ended, short of the NAIA Tournament, in the first round of the CCC Tournament against Walla Walla (Wash.), which went on to retroactively forfeit all of its victories due to use of an ineligible player.

This year's Raiders return six starters and 14 players overall. Head coach Josh Rohlfing, entering his 20th season, made four additions to the roster.

EOU has earned at least a share of four consecutive regular-season championships. The Mountaineers have four starters back, including All-America middle Keira Vaughn, while All-America outside hitter Emma Bischoff headlines Corban's group of three returning starters.

A complete season preview will be published this week.


2026 CCC Volleyball Preseason Poll

Team (1st-place votes)	Points
1. Eastern Oregon (9)	118
2. Corban (1)	106
T-3. Southern Oregon (1)	92
T-3. College of Idaho	92
5. Lewis-Clark State	74
6. Bushnell	69
T-7. Oregon Tech	52
T-7. Northwest	52
9. Walla Walla	28
10. Evergreen State	25
11. Warner Pacific	14