ASHLAND, Ore. – Senior middle blocker Rachel Gowen (Oregon City, Ore.) registered a team-high eight kills to go along with freshman Tiffany Land's (Independence,Ore.) six-kill performance, but Corban's women's volleyball team fell, 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-20), to the Red Raiders of Southern Oregon Saturday inside McNeal Pavilion.
Coming off a match against the NAIA's No. 17-ranked Oregon Tech less than twenty-four hours ago, Corban returned to the court this evening against the defending conference co-champions from a year ago with hopes of re-righting the ship.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, a powerful Red Raider attack did not allow that to happen therefore extending Southern Oregon's streak to wins in 17 of the last 18 matches between the two teams dating back to the 2000 season.
In the opening set, Southern Oregon jumped out to a quick five-point lead (6-1) before Corban used a 7-3 run to pull back within a mere point (9-8). The host Raiders then used an 8-0 run to pull away for good (17-8), as the Warriors could not get any closer than nine points at 19-10 via a SOU service error. Southern Oregon cruised to the opening set victory (25-14) despite a pair of kills each by Gowen and Land.
In the second set, Southern Oregon continued to apply the pressure pulling out to a quick 3-1 lead. The Warriors continued to use their resilient effort and got within a single point (15-14) via a Gowen kill. Unfortunately, Southern Oregon's offense was too strong as the Red Raiders used a 10-3 run to close out the middle set (25-17).
In the third and final set, Corban jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead behind the serving of senior Rashelle Davenport (Kalama, Wash.) and the net attack of Gowen. Southern Oregon then used a 5-1 run to knot the set at 5-all before Land gave the Warriors their final lead of the match (6-5) via a kill. The host Raiders used a 10-8 run over the next 18 points to grab a slim one-point lead (15-14) before a 4-0 SOU run caused second-year head coach Heather Dunn to call a timeout. Trailing by five points (19-14), Corban got within four (24-20) following a kill by Davenport but Southern Oregon closed out the set and match via a kill by Samantha Yutzie for the five-point win (25-20) and three-set sweep.
Along with Gowen and Land, Davenport and fellow senior Chelsea Reeher (Powell Butte, Ore.) added five and two kills respectively. The aforementioned quartet combined to register all 21 of Corban's kills on the night, as junior Amy Thompson (Oregon City, Ore.) guided the Warriors' offense with a team-high 13 assists. In the back row, sophomore libero Rebecca Franke (Pendleton, Ore.) registered a team-high eight digs to go along with Reeher's team-best two-block performance at the net.
Southern Oregon was led by Mia Wortel's match-high 13 kills, while Sarah Holgen and Leah Bergstrom added seven kills each. Lindsey Stone handed out a match-high 35 assists, while Maggie Rivers registered a match-high 14 digs from the Raiders' back row.
With the loss, Corban falls to 5-6 overall, including 3-3 in conference play. Meanwhile, Southern Oregon improves to 7-7 overall, 5-1 in conference action. The Warriors return to action on Friday, September 26th, when they host the Thunderbirds of Cascade beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
