Megan Bartling had 11 kills and seven blocks, including the match-clincher
No. 14 Southern Oregon Comes From Behind in 3-2 Victory Over No. 6 College of Idaho
BOX SCORE
ASHLAND – Fourteenth-ranked Southern Oregon overcame a 2-0 match deficit, winning the final three sets to upset No. 6 College of Idaho 3-2 (22-25, 12-25, 25-20, 25-18, 19-17) in the NAIA Volleyball Match of the Week Friday night at Bob Riehm Arena.
With the win, Southern Oregon improves to 18-4 overall and 15-2 in conference play. College of Idaho picks up its first CCC loss of the season, falling to 16-1 and 21-2 overall. Both teams close out the regular season tomorrow night, with the Raiders hosting Eastern Oregon at 7 p.m. and C of I traveling to Klamath Falls to face Oregon Tech at 7 p.m.
Southern Oregon took a 20-15 lead in the opening set, but College of Idaho called a timeout and scored the next eight points to take a 23-20 lead. The Raiders scored the next two to pull within one, but C of I clinched the set on a Kylee Nawahine block to take a 1-0 lead.
The Yotes dominated the second set, limiting SOU to a -.032 attack percentage in the set for the first time the Raiders have posted a negative attack percentage since the fifth set of SOU’s 3-2 win over No. 7 Lewis-Clark State on Aug. 27. College of Idaho hit .393 in the set and led 20-6 at one point.
Following the break, the Raiders came out with a renewed energy and took an early 13-6 lead in the third set, but the Yotes scored the next four points to pull within three at 13-10. The teams exchanged points until the Raiders pulled ahead 20-15, prompting a C of I timeout that seemed to mirror the opening set. Sure enough, the Yotes scored three straight points following the break to pull within two, but SOU responded with a three-point streak of its own and closed out the 25-20 victory on kills by Megan Bartling and Sarah Holgen.
The Raiders led 4-1 to start the fourth set before the Yotes tied it up at 5-5. With the set tied up at seven apiece, the Raiders used a 9-3 run to pull ahead by six points. Following three straight C of I points, the Raiders scored six of the next eight points to take a 22-15 lead, and a kill by Bartling closed out the set at 25-18 to force a fifth game.
The final set featured 15 tie scores and did not have either team lead by more than one point after an early 5-3 SOU lead until the deciding point. With SOU leading 13-12, College of Idaho tied it up at 13-13 on a bad set and set up match point at 14-13 on a Torrey Hulsey block. The Raiders tied it at 14 on a Hulsey attack error, but the Yotes regained the match-point edge twice more on Hulsey kills to make it 15-14 and 16-15.
A College of Idaho attack error tied the set at 16-16, and Bartling and Scheller picked up a block to give the Raiders the match point advantage at 17-16. Ciciley Fox used her 20th kill of the match to tie it up at 17-17, but a kill by Haley Fikso made it 18-17 SOU and a block by Bartling and Fikso clinched the comeback win for the Raiders.
Fox led both teams with 20 kills, with Hulsey adding 17 and Myers finishing with 15. Kelsey Soos posted a match-high 60 assists to go with 10 digs for the double-double, and Whitney Brigham finished with a match-high 39 digs.
For the Raiders, Holgen led the way with 14 kills and 18 digs, and Bartling added 11 kills, two solo blocks and five block assists. Caryn Westrick finished with 35 assists and 15 digs, Renee Yomtob posted 15 digs and Becky Johnstone added 16 digs.