SOU Volleyball Drops Two at Paul Elliott Invitational
ASHLAND – Day Two of the 2012 Paul Elliott Invitational did not treat the Southern Oregon volleyball team as kindly as Friday’s opener, as the Raiders fell in a pair of matches Saturday at Bob Riehm Arena.
Southern Oregon dropped a five-set afternoon matchup with Westminster, falling 25-22, 23-25, 17-25, 25-23 and 10-15 to the Griffins. In the final match of the tournament, the Raiders fell to Viterbo in a sweep with set scores of 23-25, 18-25 and 14-25. The losses drop SOU’s early-season record to 2-2.
The Raiders return to action with a home match Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Ashland High School. With a new floor coming to Bob Riehm Arena in the next two weeks, the Raiders will temporarily move to the Grizzlies’ home court.
Westminster 3, SOU 2
Box Score
Southern Oregon struggled after the first set against the Griffins, hitting .222 as a team in the opener but never surpassing the .150 mark in any of the other sets. Nikki Keller led SOU with 12 kills and Natalie Scheller added 11, but nine service errors and 11 reception errors plagued the Raiders in the loss. Ashley Marchant tallied a match-high 15 kills and Alyse Horton added 10 for Westminster, with Emily Atkinson’s 45 assists setting the pace in the match.
The Raiders built up a 20-14 lead in the first set and looked like they might take over the match, but Westminster called timeout and closed the set on a 10-5 run to make it close late before Atkinson’s service error clinched the victory for SOU.
Southern Oregon again looked strong early in the second set, pulling ahead 13-9 following a kill by Haley Kasler and a Westminster attack error. Once again the Griffins took a time out and proceeded to put a run together, scoring the next four points to tie the set and eventually taking a 22-19 lead. The Raiders pulled within one at 24-23, twice battling off set point on a kill by Mona Goudarzian and a Westminster attack error, but Kenzie Mitchell’s kill finished off the set.
Westminster scored seven of the first eight points in the third set before SOU rebounded to pull within three at 15-12. The teams swapped points for a bit before the Griffins finished with seven of the final nine points to take the 2-1 match advantage. The fourth set was back-and-forth the whole way, with neither team leading by more than three points, but a kill by Scheller gave the Raiders the 25-23 win and forced a fifth set.
Westminster took over the fifth set early, using a 7-1 run to turn a 5-5 tie into a 12-6 advantage. Southern Oregon pulled within three on a kill by Kasler, but the Griffins scored the final two points to earn the match victory.
Viterbo 3, SOU 0
Box Score
Viterbo’s relentless attack proved too much for Southern Oregon, as the V-Hawks hit .333 for the match while limiting the Raiders to a .112 attack percentage. Goudarzian led the way with 14 kills for the Raiders, tying Viterbo’s Alicia Olson for the match-high total, but the V-Hawks tallied 48 kills in the match to the Raiders’ 33 kills.
Viterbo took a quick 8-2 lead in the opening set, stretching its advantage to 14-7 following an SOU attack error. Caryn Westrick responded with a kill to spark a 13-6 SOU run that evened up the set at 20-apiece, and a Viterbo attack error gave the Raiders their first lead. Following a Viterbo time out, the V-Hawks scored five of the final seven points to claim the set victory.
The second and third sets saw SOU stick close in the first 10 points or so before the V-Hawks pulled away. Viterbo used a 10-2 run to turn a 6-6 tie into a 16-8 advantage in the second set, and the Raiders never again pulled closer than six points back. Southern Oregon held a brief early lead in the final set, but Viterbo scored 10 of 11 points to take a 13-4 lead en route to the easy 25-14 victory.