ASHLAND – The No. 22-ranked Southern Oregon volleyball team got pushed on its opening day but came out clean from the Raider Invitational, defeating Simpson (Calif.) in five sets and Saint Mary (Neb.) in four on Friday at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
The Raiders scored the first four points of the tiebreaker session to hold off Simpson by scores of 25-17, 25-27, 25-21, 25-27 and 15-9 to kick off the morning session. They returned in the evening to collect a 25-20, 27-29, 25-23, 25-17 win against Saint Mary, which a few hours earlier had knocked off No. 19 Bushnell.
Senior outside hitter Maya Watters starred with 33 kills, senior middle Tessa Zimmermann put up 19 kills and 14 blocks, and senior setter Annie Hite tallied 53 assists, and sophomore libero Maelle Garon had 19 digs over nine sets of work on the day. As a team, SOU limited its opponents to a combined .126 attacking average.
The Raiders stayed perfect in 16 all-time meetings with Simpson, but the Red Hawks gave them a scare by fighting off multiple set-points in both the second and fourth frames to extend the match. Freshman outside hitter Briella Mathis helped SOU pull through with three kills and a service ace in the fifth, including the clinching swing.
Mathis posted 10 kills and 14 digs in her debut match. Dude Leite (13 kills, 6 blocks), Zimmermann (11 kills, 7 blocks) and Watters (13 kills) joined her in double figures.
The Raiders got a big boost from their back row against Saint Mary, getting 16 digs and four assists from Garon, seven digs and four aces from Jadyn Daviscourt, and nine digs and an ace from Katie White. Annie Hite registered a 25-assist, 10-dig double-double.
Watters hit the 20-kill mark for the second time in her Raider career against the Flames. Marian Vega Castro needed only seven attempts to contribute four kills and Zimmermann added eight kills and seven more blocks.
SOU held Saint Mary to .086 attacking efficiency, getting five additional blocks out of Bella Cormack.
The Raiders travel next weekend to Fullerton, Calif., for four matches at the Hope International Summer Slam. There, they'll see top-ranked Northwestern (Iowa) and No. 15 The Master's (Calif.).