ASHLAND – For the eighth time in 11 years and fourth in a row, the Southern Oregon University volleyball team will begin the season in the NAIA Top 25.

The Raiders were No. 22 in the preseason coaches' poll that was released Wednesday by the national office. They were also the only team to break in that wasn't part of last year's postseason Top 25.

They're set to debut Friday at home in the Raider Invitational, facing Simpson (Calif.) at 10 a.m. and Saint Mary (Neb.) at 6 p.m. inside Lithia Motors Pavilion. They'll take their first Top 25 tests next week in the Hope International Summer Slam, where they'll see No. 15 The Master's (Calif.) and top-ranked Northwestern (Iowa).

As usual, the Cascade Conference was well represented in the poll. SOU was among six circuit teams listed, joining No. 2 Eastern Oregon, No. 5 Corban, No. 18 College of Idaho, No. 19 Bushnell and No. 23 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho). No other conference had more.

SOU was picked to finish third in last week's preseason CCC coaches' poll, coming in behind EOU and Corban.

As it stands, 12 of the 30 matches on SOU's regular season matches will be against nationally-ranked competition.
 

RANK	LAST	SCHOOL [1st-place votes]	2025
1	2	Northwestern (Iowa)	33-4
2	3	Eastern Oregon	32-3
3	4	Concordia (Neb.)	28-4
3	1	Indiana Wesleyan	33-4
5	5	Corban (Ore.)	27-6
6	6	Providence (Mont.)	34-3
7	8	McPherson (Kan.)	34-3
8	7	Bellevue (Neb.)	29-5
9	10	Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio)	27-9
10	9	Cumberlands (Ky.)	36-1
11	11	Missouri Baptist	31-6
12	13	Oklahoma Wesleyan	26-5
13	12	IU Kokomo (Ind.)	32-6
14	14	St. Thomas (Fla.)	27-5
15	16	The Master's (Calif.)	24-5
16	18	Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.)	20-12
17	17	Aquinas (Mich.)	33-7
18	20	College of Idaho	21-10
19	15	Bushnell (Ore.)	22-13
20	21	Midland (Neb.)	19-12
21	23	Cornerstone (Mich.)	27-9
22	RV	Southern Oregon	16-12
23	19	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	18-9
24	22	Mobile (Ala.)	30-5
25	25	Viterbo (Wis.)	27-7