Davenport Leads Corban in Loss to SOU
SALEM, Ore. – Junior Rashelle Davenport (Kalama, Wash.) recorded a team-high 9 kills and senior Ashley Lange (Salem, Ore.) added 8 kills of her own, but Corban's women's volleyball team fell to nationally-ranked Southern Oregon, 3-0 (15-30. 19-30, 16-30), on Saturday night inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
In its final home match of a five-match swing, Corban ran into a highly powered Red Raiders' offense that completely shut down the Warriors' offensive attack and rode to a quick three-game sweep.
In the opening game, Corban fell behind early as the host Warriors found themselves down by four (6-2) following a setting error. Despite its early deficit, Corban battled back to within two points (7-5) following a SOU service error, but could not get anything closer as the visiting Red Raiders began to apply the pressure and quickly extended their lead to double digits (20-9) following a kill from Mia Wortel. The Warriors could only get as close as 11 points (23-12) following a kill by Lange before the Red Raiders used a 7-3 run to close out the game, 30-15.
Game #2 had a little different look, as Corban scored the first two points on back-to-back kills from Davenport. Unfortunately the Warriors could not keep the Red Raiders at bay, as each team battled back and forth until the game was tied at 8-all. The visiting Red Raiders scored the next three points and then began to increase their lead to as much as 12 points (26-14) following a kill by Jaclyn Hamilton-Smith. Southern Oregon seemed in control at that point, but Corban chipped away at the Red Raiders' armor enough to get within nine points (28-19) following a kill by junior Chelsea Reeher (Powell Butte, Ore.). With such a margin, Southern Oregon scored back-to-back points to take the middle game by eleven, 30-19.
In the third and final game, Southern Oregon jumped out to a commanding 8-point advantage (12-4) following a kill by Shanna Claflin. In an attempt to fight back, Corban used an 9-6 run to pull within seven points (20-13) following a kill by freshman Teri Braun (Dallas, Ore.) and a Red Raider attack error therefore forcing SOU's coaching staff to call their only timeout of the match. Coming out of the mini-break, Southern Oregon scored six of the next eight points to pull away for good en route to winning the finale by 14 points (30-16) and the match in three games.
Along with Davenport and Lange, Reeher and freshman Kristen Eiler (Salem, Ore.) added 4 kills each. Sophomore setter Amy Thompson (Oregon City, Ore.) handed out a team-high 24 assists, while junior Margo Wyatt (Dufur, Ore.) registered a team-high 13 digs from the back row to go along with Thompson's 11 and Davenport's 10.
Southern Oregon was led by Wortel's match and team-high 14 kills, while Hamilton-Smith and Richelle Millsap added 13 each. Lindsay Stone handed out a match and team-high 54 assists for Southern Oregon, while SOU's libero Emily Stone anchored the Red Raiders' back line with a match and team-high 22 digs.
With its five straight home matches complete, Corban finds itself at 5-7 overall, 3-3 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. Meanwhile, Southern Oregon pushes its winning streak to six straight matches and improves to 11-4 overall, 5-1 in CCC action. The Warriors are back in action on Friday, September 28th, when they travel north to Portland for a match-up with the Lady Thunderbirds of Cascade College beginning at 7:00 p.m.