SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Southern Oregon University volleyball team made history on Saturday night at the expense of archrival Eastern Oregon. The comeback it required, after already defeating the Mountaineers in three previous matchups this fall, only served in retrospect as another twist of the knife.
The No. 3-seeded Raiders survived the NAIA Championship quarterfinals in five – pulling out a 25-22, 21-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-12 instant classic at the Tyson Events Center. Senior right-side hitter Hannah Stadstad, one of several culprits, starred with a career-high 23 kills on 44 swings, three of which she nailed down in a tiebreaker set that wasn't close until the Mountaineers denied SOU's first four attempts at match point.
For the first time ever, SOU (32-3 overall) will appear in the national semifinal round on Monday against defending champion Indiana Wesleyan, the tournament's No. 2 overall seed. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. PST.
"We've been saying it since the beginning of the year, but we're going to keep evolving through our last match, whenever that is," SOU coach Josh Rohlfing said. "We did it tonight and we'll need to do it again on Monday."
For three sets, the Raiders saw a different EOU (31-5) team than the one that folded in straight sets three weeks ago in the Cascade Conference Tournament championship. The No. 3-seeded Mountaineers attacked at an eye-popping .370 average while stealing the second and third and stifled SOU to that point with nine blocks.
But in the fourth and fifth combined, they hit .106. The Raiders' defense tightened up behind five assisted blocks from Sadie Byrd – who broke SOU's career blocks record in the process – five from Linda Conceicao, and 17 digs from Kayla Neidigh.
The Raiders surged to a 16-7 lead in the fourth set, where Stadstad began her takeover with six kills while Marin Mackey and Megan Perry hammered six more. Perry totaled 14 kills, hitting double figures for the third time at the tournament, and Mackey registered her 12th double-double of the season with 12 kills and 14 digs.
Up 5-4 in the fifth, the Raiders rattled off four consecutive points on a run started by a joint block by Byrd and Mackey. Stadstad followed with back-to-back kills, then teamed with Byrd for another block to make the score 9-4.
SOU's 14-8 lead was down to two points when Mackey finished off a lengthy rally – in which SOU narrowly dodged a service ace – with the match-clinching kill.
The Mountaineers were attempting to reach the semifinals for the third year in a row. Before dropping all four matchups with SOU this season, they'd won six straight and 14 of the previous 19. Keira Vaughn's 19 kills led five Mountaineers with double-figure totals. They had a .250 overall average compared to SOU's .200.
"I think the match turned when we buckled down on the serving side of the ball," Rohlfing said. "Once we got that going and they couldn't run all three options, we got some free balls that we took care of and got it rolling again."
The Raiders victimized EOU in similar fashion two months ago, erasing a 2-1 sets deficit before taking the fifth 15-11 in La Grande.
Stadstad ensured it happened again, delivering a typically outstanding playoff performance. In seven NAIA Championship matches over the last two seasons, the All-American has tallied 3.5 kills per set on .322 efficiency. Annie Hite, the setter in Stadstad's rotations, finished with a career-high 37 assists.
Byrd's latest performance gave her 531 blocks as a Raider. She'd tied Cindy Vincent's 28-year-old program record during pool play on Friday, but the three-time All-CCC performer now has it to herself.
Indiana Wesleyan – which will enter Monday's match with a 35-2 record and a 32-match win streak – swept No. 7 seed St. Thomas (Fla.) in its quarterfinal.
"They're the defending champs for a reason: They're really good," Rohlfing added. "But we're resilient and we're champions too. It's gonna be a battle."
The other semifinal, set for 3 p.m. PST Monday, features two familiar squads: No. 5 seed Bellevue (Neb.), which SOU swept in August, and No. 8 seed Corban, which SOU swept in the CCC Tournament semifinals.
The championship will be played at 5 p.m. Tuesday.