Owls Fall to Rival Raider in Three
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The Oregon Tech volleyball team showed signs of brilliance tonight against the No. 16 ranked Raiders, but it was Southern Oregon that showed its consistency with a three set win over the Owls 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 tonight at Danny Miles Court.
After six lead changes in the opening set, Oregon Tech would take a 13-11 lead. A 10-4 SOU run, including four-straight points, would propel the Raiders to a 25-19 win in set 1.
A 2-1 lead for the Owls in set 2 quickly turned to an 8-2 deficit, as the Raiders reeled off seven straight to go up 8-2. SOU continued to apply pressure eventually bumping their lead to 15-6 before a Tech timeout. Southern enjoyed their first 10-point lead at 20-10 and moved on to a 25-15 win.
Oregon Tech came out on fire to begin set 3 to lead 5-1. Four straight for the visitors would tie the contest 5-5. After a 7-7 tie, an 8-1 Raider run gave SOU a 13-8 lead. The Owls would claw back into the set, after making several spectacular defensive plays, cutting the Tech deficit to only one point, 18-17. The Oregon Tech rally was cut short, however, when SOU scored seven of the next eight points to win the set and match 25-18.
Mikayla Morgan tied a match-high with nine kills, while adding three digs. Megan Christensen followed with eight kills and a team-high 10 digs. Miranda Weitz and Joey Larsen combined for 11 kills in the loss. Larsen also added eight digs to her season total with Paige Wallachy finishing with five.
Sarah Holgen led the Raider attack with nine kills, followed by Leah Bergstrom with eight. Leanne Stennett totaled seven kills and tied Becky Johnstone with a team-high 11 digs.