ASHLAND – Friley Curtiss and Tessa Zimmermann supplied 12 kills apiece as No. 22-ranked Southern Oregon needed four sets to beat Oregon Tech but dominated three of them on Tuesday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
The Raiders won 25-13, 14-25, 25-14, 25-16 to finish off a Cascade Conference regular-season sweep of the Owls, whose attack was thwarted to the tune of a .056 average – their lowest since the last time they met SOU on Sept. 17.
The victory made the Raiders 16-7 overall and 8-5 in the CCC, a half-match back of fourth place entering Thursday's contest at last-place Warner Pacific. The seventh-place Owls went to 11-10 and 5-8, remaining winless against SOU since 2022.
The Owls compiled 25 attacking errors compared to 31 kills, and 18 of them were unforced as SOU's Jadyn Daviscourt, Maelle Garon and Katie White sealed the back row with nine digs each.
Zimmermann was at her best in the swing third set with four kills and a block. Curtiss had three kills and a block within the first five points of the clinching fourth, pushing SOU to a quick 5-1 lead.
Together, they combined for 19 more kills (24) than errors (5) on 45 attempts. Lanie Snow also had an efficient night with five kills on seven swings while assisting four blocks. Duda Leite and Briella Mathis added six and seven kills, respectively.
Setters Annie Hite (24 assists) and Isabelle Foote (16 assists) guided the Raiders to a .225 team average. They've now sat over .200 in four of their last five outings.
Steffini Goss paced the Owls with 10 kills, though she also committed eight errors. Taryn Ramsay had 26 assists and Aleksen Thayer was in on nine blocks.
The Raiders are home next on Oct. 23-24 to face the top-two teams in the standings, No. 8 College of Idaho and No. 1 Eastern Oregon.