Southern Oregon Gets By Upset Minded Oregon Tech in Five
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Oregon Tech’s hopes for an upset bid fell short as eighth-ranked Southern Oregon University battled back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Owls 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-22, 15-10) in Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball action tonight at Danny Miles Court.
The loss drops Oregon Tech to 9-4 on the season and 4-3 in CCC action. SOU remains undefeated with a 14-0 overall mark and now 7-0 in the conference standings.
SOU opened up with a 5-2 lead in set 1 but kills from Tech’s Kelsey Sampson and Bailey Nelson boosted the Owls to a 7-6 edge. Tied 11-all a Whitney Webster score, and a pair of aces by Kristen DePaoli, put the Owls up 15-11.
SOU rallied for four-straight to draw to within a point, but the Owls would outscore the Raiders 10-6 to move up 1-0 in the match, 25-20.
Midway through set 2 SOU held an 18-16 advantage. Three in a row by the Owls gave the home team a 19-18 lead. The Raiders, however, used a Laura Morse kill, and two more from Emma Gasman during a 5-0 spurt, to give the Raiders a 23-19 lead. SOU would eventually move on to tie the match a 1-1 after the 25-21 win.
The Owls, trailing 9-13 in set 3, strung together eight-straight, behind the serving of Kristin DePaoli and a kill each from Alexa Burdett (pictured - by Kelly Caleb) and Mikayla Rubey, to lead 17-13.
What looked to be an easy win turned to a 24-24 tie when the Raiders scored five-straight after trailing 24-19. Tech, however, got a kill from Burdett to go up one, while a SOU attack error gave the Owls a 26-24 win and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
After five ties to open set 4, Tech couldn’t overcome a 6-2 Raider run. SOU ran the lead to 23-17, but the Owls capitalized on a pair of SOU errors and two DePaoli kills and closed to 22-23.
SOU would record the final two points, the last on a Gasman spike, to tie match at 2-2 with the 25-23 win.
The Raiders had all the momentum in the final set, racing to a 4-0 lead and pulling away to an 11-6 advantage.
The Owls would use a 4-1 run and close to 12-10, but three-straight from SOU gave the Raiders the match after the 15-10 win.
Four Owls finished in double digit kills, led by a team-high 15 from Alexa Burdett. Whitney Webster finished with 13, followed by 12 from Kristin DePaoli and 11 kills by Mykala Rubey. Bella Foss finished with 23 digs with Kelsey Sampson adding 20 and Tori Porter 17 digs in the loss. Porter and Waverly Green combined for 48 assists with 30 and 18, respectively.
Five Raiders finished with double figure kills, led by a match-high 17 from Corynn Kopra. Niki Small and Tyana Andrews tallied 12 kills each with Emma Gasman and Laura Morse coming away with 10 kills each. Andrews, Kopra and Morse recorded a double-double with Andrews adding 16 digs, Kopra 12 and Morse 10. Lauren McGowne finished with a match-high 53 assists to go with 11 digs.