No. 17 RAIDER VOLLEYBALL (10-4, 2-2 CCC)
6 p.m. Thursday – at Oregon Tech (7-5, 1-3) | Stream | Live Stats
4 p.m. Saturday – vs. Warner Pacific (0-5, 0-4) | Stream | Live Stats

ASHLAND – The No. 17-ranked Southern Oregon University volleyball team's toughest trip of the fall is now in the rear view, but the road work continues as the Raiders make a short trek over the hill to face Oregon Tech.
 
The Raiders (10-4 overall, 2-2 Cascade Conference), after going down on the home floors of a pair of top-five opponents last week, take on the Owls (7-5, 1-3) at 6 p.m. Thursday and return home to play Warner Pacific (0-5, 0-4) at 4 p.m. Saturday inside Lithia Motors Pavilion. WPU is winless in its last 10 sets played, but an improved OIT team and the Raiders have gotten similar results against common opponents.

NAIA TOP 25: Thanks in large part to their five-set win on Sept. 4 against then-No. 12 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), the Raiders moved up one spot to No. 17 in Wednesday's latest NAIA Top 25 despite going 2-2 during the last ratings period. That's also because their two losses, at unbeaten Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho, were against the No. 1 and now No. 4 teams in the poll. They fell to the Yotes in five sets but became the first team this season to take a 2-1 sets lead against them.

The CCC has five teams in the Top 25, the others being No. 6 Corban and No. 11 LC State, while Bushnell is receiving votes. SOU travels to Bushnell and Corban next week.

BRIEFLY:

• Behind senior Tessa Zimmermann, the Raiders are getting some of the most efficient attacking in the country from their middles. Zimmerman is averaging 2.1 kills per set on a .376 average – only one player in the CCC is posting more on a higher average – and has accumulated 81 kills compared to 13 attacking errors over her last 10 matches, hitting .430 during that stretch. Her overall efficiency ranks fifth in the conference, and Marian Vega Castro is second on that leaderboard at .418. Vega Castro, a junior middle and first-year Raider, notched a season-high nine kills at College of Idaho.
• Senior setter Annie Hite is averaging career-highs of 5.7 assists (7th in the CCC) and 1.6 digs per set and has put together three matches of at least 25 assists and 10 digs. She is up to 2,161 total assists as a Raider, the seventh-most in program history.
• The Raiders have been out-blocked by seven consecutive opponents, but they're making up for it in part in service. On the season, they've amassed 10 more service aces (124) than service errors (114); their opponents have compiled 32 fewer service aces (82) than service errors (114).
• All four of SOU's losses have come against top-15 teams. Dating back to Sept. 27, 2025, Top 25 teams have accounted for their last nine losses.

ABOUT OREGON TECH: After a stellar non-conference showing, the Owls have gotten some encouraging results the last couple weeks: they took a 2-0 lead on LC State before falling in five and stole one set in a competitive match at College of Idaho. Their attack runs through junior transfer Kaliko Schilling (2.8 kills/set), a 6-foot outside hitter, and 5-9 sophomore twins Steffini Goss (2.6 kills) and Tiffini Goss (2.5 kills). They're hitting just .157 as a team but registering 2.6 blocks per set – the second-highest mark in the NAIA with senior middle Aleksen Thayer (1.7 blocks) leading that front. SOU won both matchups last year and is 107-32 in the all-time series.

ABOUT WARNER PACIFIC: The Raiders will attempt to win their 26th consecutive matchup against WPU, entering the weekend with a 60-4 all-time mark over the Knights. First-year coach Nerisa Laban's squad lost its opener in five sets to Linfield and has only won one set since with a thin roster of nine who have seen action. Tayah-Anne Toa leads the team at 2.2 kills per set but has nearly as many errors (39) as kills (40) on the year.