Megan Bartling led SOU with 13 kills
SOU Volleyball Downs Morningside 3-1
BOX SCORE
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The 10th-ranked Southern Oregon volleyball team punched its ticket to the final 12 single-elimination bracket Wednesday night when the Raiders defeated tournament host Morningside 3-1 (25-14, 18-25, 25-23, 29-27) in NAIA Pool Play action at the Tyson Events Center.
The Raiders improve to 23-4 overall and 2-0 in Pool Play with the win and will face third-ranked Lee (Tenn.) in tomorrow’s Pool Play finale at 5:45 p.m. (C.S.T.) Both teams are 2-0 in Pool Play and will advance to Friday’s single-elimination bracket play, the first time in program history that Southern Oregon will make it past the pool play round.
Megan Bartling led SOU in kills for the second straight day, finishing with 13 in the win. Sarah Holgen posted a double-double with 12 kills and 17 digs, while Angela Spieker and Caryn Westrick combined for 41 assists and Westrick added 10 digs to earn a double-double. Renee Yomtob’s 22 digs led the team and Becky Johnstone added 16 for SOU.
Maggie Vondrak posted a match-high 14 kills for Morningside, with Kaeli Austin adding 11. Monica Iverson led both teams with 42 assists and Darcy Christensen led both teams with 24 digs.
The first set was all SOU, as the Raiders opened on a 13-3 run to take a 10-point lead. The Raiders coasted from that point to the 25-14 opening-set victory, clinching the 1-0 match advantage on a kill by Holgen.
Morningside bounced back to take a big lead early in the second set. The Mustangs used a 14-4 run to turn a 2-2 tie into a 16-6 advantage. Southern Oregon used a 7-1 streak to pull within four at 17-13, but Morningside pulled away to even the match up at one set apiece.
The Mustangs looked like they might pull away to victory in the third set as well, scoring five points in a row to take a 12-7 lead. The Raiders responded with a 6-1 run and tied it up at 13-13 on a Morningside attack error. Morningside regained a three-point advantage at 17-14, but SOU came back to tie it up at 20-apiece. With the set tied at 21, the Raiders closed out a 4-2 run on a Holgen kill to earn the comeback victory.
In the fourth set Morningside again built an early five-point lead and looked like it might force a fifth game. The Mustangs led 10-5 before SOU battled back to take a brief 13-12 lead on a block by Bartling. Neither team led by more than two the rest of the way, and both teams battled off set-point at least once. Morningside held a 24-23 advantage with a chance to clinch the set, but the Raiders tied it up on a Mustang attack error. The Mustangs battled off set point three times before Natalie Scheller earned the match-clinching kill to take the set 29-27.