SALEM –
Maya Watters dropped in 31 kills as the No. 22-ranked Southern Oregon volleyball team completed an unbeaten stay at the Hampton Inn Classic, defeating Taylor (Ind.) in five sets and Columbia International (S.C.) in four inside the C.E. Jeffers Center.
The Raiders will enter Cascade Conference play next week with an 8-2 record. They'll start with 6 p.m. matches against Walla Walla (Wash.) on Thursday and No. 23 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Friday at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
Senior middle
Tessa Zimmermann and freshman outside hitter
Briella Mathis took over the tiebreaker in a narrow 17-25, 25-17, 25-21, 19-25, 16-14 win against Taylor (7-3 overall), combining for nine kills in the frame. The Raiders had a second-set blip against CIU (2-5) but cruised otherwise by scores of 25-14, 23-25, 25-17 and 25-10.
Annie Hite recorded 30 assists and 10 digs in the first match, helping Watters to 17 kills and Zimmermann to 10 on 20 attempts. Zimmermann opened the fifth set with three in a row to get the Raiders out in front, but the Trojans came back to force ties at five different points. The last was at 14-14, and Mathis exploded from there for her fourth and fifth kills of the set to put the Trojans away.
Maelle Garon (16 digs),
Katie White (13) and
Jadyn Daviscourt (11) combined for 40 digs to help fend them off.
Watters had 14 kills against CIU and Zimmermann amassed 10 without an error on 16 attempts as the Raiders attacked at a .305 team average.
Over 13 sets played at the Classic, Zimmermann left with 28 kills compared to two attacking errors on 51 attempts. She is attacking at a .362 clip on the season after hitting .241 as a junior.
Hite poured in 28 more assists against CIU and
Isabelle Foote had 21. Garon matched her earlier total with 16 digs, as did Daviscourt with 11.
Friley Curtiss contributed nine kills and
Marian Vega Castro had seven.
