Sarah Holgen finished with her third straight double-double
SOU's Season Ends with Loss to Embry-Riddle
BOX SCORE
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The 10th-ranked Southern Oregon University volleyball team saw its season come to an end Friday morning as the Raiders fell to No. 7 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 3-1 (17-25, 11-25, 25-23, 11-25) in the NAIA National Championships Final Bracket play-in round.
Southern Oregon ends its season with a 23-6 overall record and advanced further than any team in program history, moving past the Pool Play round to advance to the Final Bracket. Embry-Riddle advances to face No. 2 Texas at Brownsville in a quarterfinal match tonight.
Sarah Holgen finished with 13 kills and 17 digs for her third straight double-double, while Megan Bartling led the team with 14 kills. Becky Johnstone finished with 21 digs and Lauren Swetland tallied six blocks as SOU’s four seniors concluded their collegiate careers at the NAIA Championships.
Embry-Riddle limited the Raiders to a .028 overall attack percentage and held SOU to negative attack percentages in three of the four sets. The Eagles jumped ahead to an early 8-2 lead in the first set and never looked back, and in the second set E-R fell behind 5-2 early only to close the set on a 23-6 run.
The Raiders came out strong after the break to earn the third-set victory. Southern Oregon fell behind 5-2 early but scored the next five points to take a 7-5 lead. The Raiders’ biggest lead came at 15-11, but Embry-Riddle battled back to tie it up at 15-15. The Eagles scored back-to-back points late to nearly pull even at 23-22, but Holgen picked up the set-clinching kill to give SOU the 25-23 victory.
Embry-Riddle bounced back in the fourth set and took a quick 13-4 lead. Southern Oregon scored the next three points and pulled within five at 16-11, but the Eagles closed out the match with nine consecutive points to advance and put an end to the Raiders’ season.
Jordan Holcomb’s 15 kills were a match-high total and led a group of four Embry-Riddle players who reached double-figures. Taylor Martin added 14 kills, with Emily Jacobson and Abby Hall each posting 10. Adriana Vazquez finished with 52 assists and 12 digs for the Eagles, and Nina Kontrec posted 24 digs.