2026 RAIDER INVITATIONAL
August 14-15 | Lithia Motors Pavilion | Ashland, Ore.
Tickets | Live Streams

Friday's Matches
10 a.m. – Simpson (Calif.) at Southern Oregon 
12 p.m. – Bushnell vs. Saint Mary (Neb.) 
3:30 p.m. – Bushnell vs. Simpson
6 p.m. – Saint Mary at Southern Oregon
Saturday's Match
11 a.m. – Simpson vs. Saint Mary

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University volleyball team never stays down for long. In this case, "down" is only a relative characterization of a 2025 team that went 12-8 in the NAIA's deepest conference, won convincingly on the home court of the country's top-ranked team and knocked off two additional Top 25 opponents over the last few weeks of the season.

Josh Rohlfing, entering his 20th season as head coach, has never gone longer than two seasons without taking SOU to the national playoffs. His track record of roster evaluation is enviable. There was a lot of it last fall as the Raiders worked to replace every starter from the most successful lineup in program history, but they now have 13 rotation regulars back, a promising group of four newcomers brought in to help them turn the corner, and a No. 22 ranking entering Friday's Raider Invitational.

"We've just really tried to dial into how we relate to each other on the court, our communication style, and our commitment to the tempo we want to play at, because that stuff takes time," said Rohlfing, who last October became a 400-match winner. "All offseason felt like forward momentum and we feel good about where we are now. Last year we thought we had a pretty solid team and this year we have a lot of the same components with some great recruits sprinkled in who we hope can get us to the next level."

LAST SEASON: Coming off a Cascade Conference championship and the team's first NAIA semifinal appearance in 2024, last year's Raiders finished 16-12. Their ups and downs were predictable due to inexperience and a gauntlet of a schedule, as all but one of their losses came against teams that qualified for the NAIA Tournament. Despite their strong second half and a No. 24 ranking entering the postseason, two losses to Walla Walla (Wash.) – the most consequential of those a five-setter in the first round of the CCC Tournament – ultimately kept them out of the national field. Following the season, WWU forfeited both due to use of an ineligible player.

PRESEASON POLLS: Following a sixth-place finish in 2025, the Raiders were picked third in the CCC preseason coaches' poll and received one first-place vote. Eastern Oregon, which has won at least a share of four consecutive regular season titles, was selected as the favorite again, followed by Corban. In the NAIA preseason coaches' poll, six CCC teams were listed among the Top 25: EOU at No. 2, Corban at No. 5, College of Idaho at No. 18, Bushnell at No. 19, the Raiders at No. 22, and Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) at No. 23. The Raiders have been in the preseason rankings four years in a row and eight of the last 11, and they're the only ranked squad that wasn't part of last year's postseason Top 25.

FIRST UP: SOU opens at home for the seventh straight season on Friday, playing Simpson (Calif.) at 10 a.m. and Saint Mary (Neb.) at 6 p.m. in the Raider Invitational at Lithia Motors Pavilion. Simpson is the Cal Pac Conference favorite after reaching the NAIA Tournament last year, while Saint Mary was picked to finish sixth in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. Those tune-ups will precede next week's trip to the Hope International Summer Slam, where the Raiders will face top-ranked Northwestern (Iowa) and No. 15 The Master's (Calif.). They're the first of 12 matches against nationally-ranked opponents on SOU's schedule.

POSITION BY POSITION
SETTERS: Annie Hite, a senior entering her fourth year in the rotation, is the Raiders' steady hand at setter. Approaching 2,000 career assists, she is a stout defender and has twice helped SOU rank among the NAIA's top-10 in attacking efficiency. Mia Jaeger, another senior, was the platoon partner in SOU's 6-2 rotation for most of last season – both she and Hite ranked top-11 in assists per set on the conference leaderboard – and is currently competing for the second spot with redshirt-freshmen Isabelle Foote and Evie Morrissette. The latter is a 6-foot transfer from Seattle University who had a standout prep career at Sprague High.

"We only had one setter with experience and two who were new to the ropes last year, so having three returners and a transfer in that position is a boon for us," Rohlfing said. "Annie is probably playing her best volleyball and the other three are battling it out."

OUTSIDE HITTERS: The Raiders have three seniors back on the outside: Maya Watters (2.8 kills/set, .174 attacking %), Ane Tuinauvai (1.4, .144) and Kaylie Christopher (0.6, .157). Watters landed at No. 14 on the CCC's kills list, averaging 3.0 per set during conference play and tallying 10 or more in 11 different matches. Tuinauvai is likely to get more chances in her second season and can also play on the right side, while Christopher will be a factor in a utility role. New to the group is highly-touted freshman Briella Mathis, a 6-1 product of South Salem High who was an all-state selection as a senior and appears to be ahead of schedule with six-rotation potential.

"We were really happy with the offseason those returners had," Rohlfing said, "and Briella has been phenomenal through our first couple weeks."

RIGHT-SIDE HITTERS: Friley Curtiss enjoyed a breakout sophomore season in 2025, earning a spot on the All-CCC first team after posting 2.9 kills per set on a .240 attacking average. At 6-1, she showed a glimpse of her ceiling in a critical win against Northwest (Wash.) with 26 kills, the highest total for any Raider in 14 years, on just 42 attempts. Curtiss will miss some time while working her way back from injury, but the Raiders also return 6-1 senior left-hander Duda Leite (1.5 kills/set, .138 %), who was an offseason standout. Senior Bella Cormack (0.8 kills, .124, 1.0 blocks) will move from the middle to the right side, and junior Bulgarian Violeta Bachvarova joined the team after becoming an all-star at Missouri State-West Plains.

"Getting Friley back will obviously be huge for us, but we feel like there is still a lot of flexibility and athleticism with everyone else in that group," Rohlfing said.

MIDDLES: Tessa Zimmermann, a senior from Albany, will be a third-year starter and has provided consistent production throughout her career with averages of 1.4 kills per set, 0.9 blocks and .255 attacking efficiency. She is also coming off an outstanding spring, when she helped SOU's beach volleyball team win a national championship and was half of the NAIA Pair of the Year. Crater product Lanie Snow will look to build on a strong freshman campaign – she registered the 15th-most blocks per set (0.8) in the CCC and had a team-best attacking clip (.278) – and junior Marian Vega Castro figures to be impactful in her first season at SOU. Vega Castro, a 5-11 Colombian, was an all-region performer at Iowa Western C.C. with career averages of 2.0 kills, 0.8 blocks and .302 attacking.

"Those are three exceptionally dynamic middles," Rohlfing said. "They're all going to see the court."

DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS: The Raiders have three returning players competing for the libero spot in sophomores Jadyn Daviscourt and Maelle Garon and senior Katie White. Daviscourt (1.7 digs) was the most frequently featured last year as a redshirt-freshman, though Garon earned regular time as a true freshman and continued her progression as the CCC beach volleyball co-Freshman of the Year. Both also shine in service, and White averaged 1.4 digs per set across nine matches in her first season with the team.

"It's been a great competition through preseason camp and they've been closing the gap on each other," Rohlfing said. "I've really enjoyed watching their energy and leadership, and can foresee all of them getting playing time."