SALEM, Ore. – A bewildering stat sheet would leave fans perplexed as they either tuned in live to catch the action or followed up shortly after, as the No. 6-ranked Corban University Volleyball team dropped a nailbiter on their home court to the No. 16-ranked Southern Oregon University Raiders in a five-set marathon. The Warriors took the first set before promptly dropping the next two, forcing a fifth set and eventually falling to final set scores of 18-25, 25-23, 25-14, 17-25, and 15-9 in favor of the visiting Raiders.
"Tonight, we let ourselves down in serving tough at times, and our passing broke down which allowed SOU to run their offense efficiently," Warriors' head coach Kim McLain explained. "We made our blocking presence known early but struggled to defend later in the match."
A single glance at the final stats will show that the Warriors (24-5, 18-3) not only outkilled and assisted the Raiders (24-5, 17-4), but also scored seven more points in a losing effort that doesn't come around very often in a collegiate volleyball match. Usually when more points are scored overall, the winning program had to have outperformed in some other category, yet Southern Oregon tallied the same number of digs and service aces and yet still had only two more blocking plays than Corban.
However, the Raiders were able to take advantage of a very key statistical advantage that won't be found on any box score: unforced errors. While it was very obvious that these two programs are extremely well-rounded and compete well against each other, especially considering that each of their regular season matchups both went to a full five sets, Southern Oregon sent very few balls into the stands and were able to make key digs in big rallies, while the Navy and Gold struggled to put together runs and keep their opponents from falling out of system.
The first set was all smiles for the home team, as the Warriors hopped out to a sizeable lead and were able to maintain that momentum through a handful of Raider comeback bids. SOU was held to an even .000 kill percentage thanks to the powerful blocking at the net for Corban, which could have resulted in a three-set sweep in the Navy and Gold were able to hold that cadence throughout the night.
Southern Oregon was able to learn from their mistakes and handle Corban with ease over the second and third sets, crushing a .306 and .500 kill percentage over the two periods while forcing 16 Warrior errors. The Navy and Gold were able to force a crucial fifth set in their best offensive period of the evening where they committed just a single attacking error, but SOU once again made adjustments and silenced one of the Warriors' best home turnouts of the season with a dominant final set.
After swinging poorly, hitting into the blocks, or sending the ball onto the second floor of the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center on 20 occasions through the first four sets, the Raiders kept a levelheaded mindset and didn't commit one more miscue through the fifth set, securing the massive road victory for their national tournament resume and avoiding a season sweep at the hands of the Warriors for the third-straight season.
Sophomore opposite hitter Makayla Roginski put together one of the best performances of her young career this evening, as she smashed a game-high 17 kills with only four errors to tie her career-high mark in kills set last season that also happened to be against SOU.
Despite a poor kill percentage, junior outside hitter Rylee Troutman was able to log her usual double-digit kill count with 16 today and added nine digs in the backcourt. Conference opponents have made it a point as of late to focus their gameplan around containing the reigning conference Player of the Year and odds-on favorite to repeat this season, which to their credit has seemed to be effective as the Warriors are experiencing only their second back-to-back losses of the season and second since the 2020 season.
Junior setter Courtney Garwood had the best assisting performance of the day with 27 dimes dished out to Warrior attackers, which also ties the career-high mark in her three-year career as in the navy and gold uniforms. The defensive end of the spectrum was dominated by junior libero Marissa Uehara's game-high 18 digs and junior middle blocker Allyson Reid's game-high six block assists.
Raiders' opposite hitter Hannah Stadstad was unstoppable at the net for the visiting team tonight, as she crushed 16 kills and committed only two errors the entire night to lead the team offensively. Setter Vitoria Matos clinched a double-double performance with 23 assists and 10 digs, while outside hitter Marin Mackey was the only other double-doubler via 14 kills and 15 digs. Libero Kayla Neidigh tied Mackey for the team-high digs mark with 15 of her own, while middle blocker Tessa Zimmermann secured six block assists to share the match lead with Reid.
Tomorrow evening, the Corban Volleyball team will honor one of the greatest to ever represent Warrior Nation in a Senior Night celebration to remember shortly before the beginning of their regular season and conference finale where they'll host the Oregon Tech Owls (12-16, 10-11) at 5pm. A victory tomorrow night will clinch the No. 2-seed in the CCC Tournament next weekend for the Warriors, which will be hosted in La Grande.
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