No. 21 Southern Oregon Tops Warner Pacific
BOX SCORE
Valiant effort by Knights falls short
PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Warner Pacific volleyball team put a scare into No. 21 Southern Oregon Friday night before eventually falling 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-16). The Knights won the first set and were tied late in the second, but the Raiders held on to capture their seventh straight win and improve their Cascade Conference-leading record to 8-1 (10-7 overall). The Knights fall to 3-6 in CCC play and 5-6 overall.
The Knights came out fighting in the first set, jumping out to an early 11-5 lead behind an assault of service aces, including three by Leah Gradwohl. The Raiders eventually tied the game at 20 apiece, but the Knights finished strong, scoring five of the set’s final six points for the 25-21 win.
Set two at first followed the pattern of the first set with the Knights taking an early 10-7 lead. But the Raiders rattled off seven consecutive points midway through to take a commanding 17-12 lead. The Knights made a furious comeback, however, knotting the game at 22 and serving for the lead. Southern Oregon’s Mia Wortel then responded with two late kills to give the Raiders the set two win at 25-22.
Coming out of the break, the Raiders took an early 5-1 lead only to see the Knights go on a rally 6-6. But that was as close as the Knights would get as Southern Oregon opened up a 16-9 lead and never allowed the Knights to come within reach until the end of the set, when Warner Pacific managed to make it interesting and cut the lead to two at 24-22. The Knights couldn’t finish the comeback, however, as the Raiders won 25-22 for the second straight set.
After battling their nationally ranked opponent tough for the first three sets, the Knights ran out of gas in set four as the Raiders cruised to an easy 25-16 win.
For the game, Leah Gradwohl had a game-high 16 kills to go along with 12 digs, while Kara Veach also recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 15 digs. Molly Webb had a game-high 22 digs on the Knights backline.
Southern Oregon was led by Sarah Holgen and Mia Wortel, each recording team highs of nine kills. Maggie Rivers notched 22 digs, tied with Webb for the game high.
The Knights return to action Saturday night at 7 PM to face the Oregon Tech Owls.