ASHLAND, Ore. – Facing their first conference loss of the season with match point on two separate occasions this evening, the No. 9-ranked Corban University Volleyball team rallied in spectacular fashion to shock the entire Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) with a reverse sweep of the No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon University Raiders on the road deep in enemy territory. After dropping the first two sets 27-25 and 25-22, the Warriors rebounded in the third to hold off back-to-back match points for the Raiders to take the set 26-24 and kept a firm grasp on the momentum to pull out 25-23 and 15-13 scores over the fourth and fifth sets, thus completing the improbable come-from-behind victory.
"What a battle!" explained Warriors' head coach Kim McLain. "SOU is extremely well coached and a talented team! We knew we had to serve tough in order to get their offense out of system. We struggled at times with passing, which made it hard to run an effective offense. I was extremely proud of the grit and the never-give-up attitude we had tonight!"
With the Raiders (9-1, 3-1) utilizing a White Out-themed crowd to stuff the Lithia Motors Pavilion in a Friday night matchup for the ages, they were able to take a 3-1 lead against the Warriors (8-1, 4-0) before Corban would go on a six-point run to force an early timeout out of SOU at 7-3. Seventeen-points later with the Navy and Gold taking advantage of some scramble plays, the Raiders were forced to use their second timeout after back-to-back-to-back kills from senior middle blocker Allyson Reid, redshirt junior middle blocker Jadah Schmidtke, and junior opposite hitter Makayla Roginski to stretch their lead to 16-11.
Slowly but surely, Southern Oregon chipped away at the massive Corban lead, eventually pulling to within a single point at 22-21 and putting Coach McLain into her first timeout situation of the opening set. A questionable line call in the Warriors' backcourt allowed the Raiders to keep their homecourt momentum alive and eventually force extra points in the first set between CCC foes. After exchanging blows in every other point opportunity, SOU snagged a first set victory to take an early match lead at 27-25.
The first set comeback carried into the second set for the hometown team, as the Raiders continued their hot streak to a 16-8 lead and were closing in on a 2-0 lead. While the Warriors were able to cut the deficit to a single point on a handful of occasions, Southern Oregon would hang on for the 25-22 set score and just leave a single set remaining between SOU and another Top 10 win on their home court.
Determined not to get swept and lose their seven-game winning streak, the Warriors held their own for the first half of the third set, before the Raiders began to take advantage of their home court advantage and ride the momentum of the crowd to match point at 24-22. However, a kill from sophomore outside hitter Kendra Bittle followed by smash from Schmidtke tied the match at 24-all, and just like that, the Warriors deflected back-to-back match point scenarios and completed the comeback thanks to a block from Bittle and service ace by senior libero Marissa Uehara to force a fourth set via a 26-24 Corban win.
With the energy in the building having now been drained from the crowd and stockpiled on to the Corban bench, all the Navy and Gold had to do was not relinquish their grasp on the momentum pendulum. Despite dropping six of the first seven points to SOU, the Warriors rallied once again to earn set point at 24-22, and two points later, forced a fifth set after a Southern Oregon attacker crashed into the net on an attempted kill. The middle blocking tandem of Schmidtke and Reid earned back-to-back kills to set the Warriors up for success down the stretch and do something no other program has done in conference play thus far: send No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon into a winner-take-all fifth set.
Both programs would split the opening eight points of the fifth, yet three-straight points for Corban on two SOU unforced errors and a kill from Bittle caused the Raiders to utilize one of their timeouts just eleven points into the set. Their second came three points later in a 9-5 advantage for the Warriors, which eventually stretched to 10-5 due to a perfectly place attack by junior outside hitter Gracie Boeder.
Southern Oregon snagging four of the next six points saw Coach McLain call both of her timeouts to extinguish any hopes the Raider fans in attendance had for their program to finally earn the win against Corban in a nearly three-hour long contest, but after earning set point on an attacking error from SOU, Roginski completed the second-straight five-set victory for the Navy and Gold in Ashland dating back to their stunner from 2023. The Warriors have now won every match on the road against SOU since the 2019 season, with all but two of those matches coming down to a fifth set.
Bittle, a southern Oregon native, embraced her homecoming and tied Roginski for the team-high mark in kills with 17 apiece, setting a new career single game record for the sophomore outside hitter. For Roginski, this is her third occasion accumulating 17 kills in a match dating back to her freshman year in 2022, all of which have come against the Raiders in conference play contests. The duo combined for just nine errors in 72 attempts, resulting in a tremendous .359 kill percentage for Roginski and equally impressive .333 for Bittle.
Reid and sophomore outside hitter Emma Bischoff each added ten kills apiece, with Bischoff securing a double-double via her 13 digs in the backcourt and added an ace at the service line. In addition, Boeder took advantage of her opportunities with eight kills on 14 attempts, along with two vital digs during the fourth and fifth sets.
The Warriors trailed in overall team offensive efficiency just slightly by converting on .206 of their attempts compared to .220 for SOU, while a sturdy Raider blocking unit swatted back 13 balls compared to just eight for the Navy and Gold. On the other hand, Corban led in every other statistical category with their 69 kills, 65 assists, 63 digs, and eight service aces.
Three different setters saw court time tonight in Coach McLain's complex offensive scheme, with sophomore Nadeiah Howard stepping up to the occasion by dealing out 24 assists, two service aces, and ten digs for her first double-double of the season and fifth of her collegiate career. Junior Abby Guindy added 23 dimes and five digs, followed by senior setter Courtney Garwood who tacked on 16 assists in just two sets played.
Schmidtke and Reid tallied three assisted blocks apiece, with Reid and Roginski adding solo blocks at the net as well. Uehara tied with her Southern Oregon counterpart (libero Kayla Neidigh) with 14 digs in the five-set effort for the game-best mark and added a pair of service aces along the way.
Raiders' opposite hitter Megan Perry was unstoppable for Southern Oregon from the right side, tallying a game-high 21 kills and just four errors through five sets played. Outside hitter Marin Mackey and opposite hitter Hannah Stadstad added 12 and 11 kills, respectively, yet combined for a .117 kill percentage to limit the options down the stretch for setters Vitoria Mattos (29 assists, six digs) and Annie Hite (27 assists, nine digs). Eleven block assists for middle blocker Linda Conceicao set the defensive standard tonight for the Raiders, while middle blocker Sadie Byrd added five more. Mattos and outside hitter Mylena Testoni each scored via service aces on two occasions this evening.
The trip through southern Oregon continues tomorrow afternoon in the Klamath Basin, as the Warriors will travel to Klamath Falls to battle RV Oregon Tech (-, -) with a 4pm expected match start time.
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