COMING UP: at Milligan Mountain Madness (Elizabethton, Tenn.) – Friday vs. Milligan (Tenn.), 2 p.m. (EDT); Friday vs. Faulkner (Ala.), 7 p.m. (EDT); Saturday vs. Union Commonwealth (Tenn.), 12:30 p.m. (EDT); Saturday vs. Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.), 3 p.m. (EDT)

COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION: All four matches will be streamed through HUDL – with specific links on the OIT Volleyball Schedule Page. Live Stats from the tournament will be available through OIT's SIDEARM Stats Portal.
 
HEADED EAST: For the second straight season, the Lady Owls will make a long trip to the Eastern Time Zone – trekking to the Tri-Cities of Tennessee (Kingsport, Bristol, Johnson City) for the 18th-annual Milligan Mountain Madness, hosted by Milligan University. It marks the third straight long trip for Tech – traveling in 2023 to Hawaii, while spending the opening weekend of the 2024 season in Florida.
 
NEW STATES: The Owls will play their first ever matches against teams from Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi – and their first matches against teams from the Southern States Athletic Conference. OIT has faced one team from Tennessee (Truett McConnell), going 2-0 against the squad from the Appalachian Athletic Conference.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – MILLIGAN: Tournament play starts against host Milligan, as the Buffs are coming off a 24-8 season and picked third in the Appalachian Athletic Conference preseason poll. The squad must replace four starters from 2024, but return All-AAC outside hitter Shelby Miller (3.50 k/s) and middle blocker Addison Varney (1.42 k/s, 0.55 b/s)
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – FAULKNER: Day 1 ends with a date against Faulker University, from Montgomery, Ala., and the Southern States Athletic Conference. The Eagles finished 2024 with a 11-19 record and were picked seventh in the SSAC preseason poll – with the new squad returning three starters, hitter Charlee Jordan (2.03 k/s, 0.49 b/s), blocker Madison Mota (1.35 k/s, 0.95 b/s) and All-SSAC setter Maddi Hart (4.66 a/s, 1.99 d/s).
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – UNION COMMONWEALTH: Saturday play opens against Union Commonwealth of the AAC, as the Barbourville, Ky., squad ended the 2024 season with a 14-18 record.  The 2025 Bulldogs were picked fifth in the AAC preseason poll – despite losing four of their top five hitters to graduation – with All-AAC outside hitter Emily Shumaker (2.57 k/s) the top returner on the squad.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW - BLUE MOUNTAIN CHRISTIAN: Tournament play ends Saturday afternoon against Blue Mountain Christian from Blue Mountain, Miss. The Toppers qualified for the 2023 NAIA Tournament and finished last season 22-8, but lost three of their top four hitters to graduation. BMCU will turn to returning setter Peyton Kidd (5.43 a/s) to anchor the squad from the SSAC, with All-Freshman Team, Helen Roy (2.26 k/s), the top returning hitter.
 
BOYD LEADS TECH TO 2-1 START: For the fourth time in two seasons, Lucy Boyd was named Cascade Conference Setter of the Week after leading Tech to a 2-1 record at the Raider Invitational. The sophomore averaged 11 assists and nearly three digs per set in the three matches – recording a career-high 52 assists (and 16 digs) in Friday's match-up with Arizona Christian, while adding a career-high seven kills (along with 25 assists and eight digs) in a win over Simpson.
 
BREAKOUT WEEKEND FOR SENIORS: The trip to Ashland saw three OIT seniors have big performances – each recording career-highs in the process. Libero Abigail Sorensen was the top defensive specialist in the tournament, averaging 5.18 digs per set – including a career-high 33 digs vs. Arizona Christian, becoming the sixth Lady Owls player with 33-or-more digs in a match. Sorensen added five aces vs. Simpson, one more than her previous best. Opposite hitters Willow Jacobson and Lex Boccia blitzed the net in the Rogue Valley – Jacobson averaging 3.18 kills per set, including a career-high 21 kills vs. ACU, while Boccia averaged 2.82 kills and 0.73 blocks per set, leading Tech with a career-high 15 kills vs. Park.
 
STREAK ALIVE FOR THAYER: Junior Aleksen Thayer picked up where she left off in 2024, combining for 15 blocks in the three matches – including posting six blocks against both Arizona Christian and Simpson. Thayer extended her streak of games with a block to 65, while recording the 10th and 11th career matches with 6-or-more blocks.
 
NEWCOMERS STRONG: Six players new to the OIT program made their Lady Owls debut in Ashland, with the tandem of Alexa Gugliotta and Shalyn Bliss leading the charge. Gugliotta started each match in a middle blocker position, averaging 1.45 kills and 0.45 blocks per set. Bliss came off the bench in the vs. Park and started the win over Simpson, averaging three kills per set.
 
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Five teams were in action last week – with Bushnell going 3-0 and Southern Oregon 2-1 at the Raider Invite, while LC State defeated Montana State-Northern, while Walla Walla lost to the same MSUN squad. This week, Corban travels to a tournament hosted by Missouri Baptist, Evergreen and Eastern Oregon head to the Big Sky Invite in Montana, while Northwest, Southern, College of Idaho and Bushnell play in the Hope International SummerSlam.
 
LADY OWLS PICKED SEVENTH: A year after a quarterfinal appearance at the CCC Championships and an at-large bid to the NAIA Opening Round, OIT was picked seventh in the 11-team CCC Preseason Coaches' Poll, released on Aug. 8. The Owls were just six voter points behind fifth-place Bushnell and five points behind sixth-place LC State. Corban, who returns a pair of All-CCC picks, was the favorite, followed by Eastern Oregon and Southern Oregon – with the Raiders losing all seven starters from their 2024 team that reached the NAIA semifinals. College of Idaho was picked fourth, while Walla Walla, Northwest, Evergreen State and Warner Pacific rounded out the poll. Of note – the CCC has 11 teams this season, as Multnomah dropped athletics following the 2024-25 season.
 
PRESEASON POLL: The Lady Owls earned 17 voter points from the 19 national raters in the 2025 NAIA Volleyball preseason poll – one of seven CCC teams in the rating. It marks the second time in program history that Tech finds themselves in the preseason poll – as the 2022 club opened the year ranked No. 19. Corban opens at No. 3, Eastern Oregon at No. 5, Southern Oregon at No. 6, College of Idaho at No. 18, with OIT, Bushnell and LC State all receiving votes.
 
RECORD BOOK: Seven players on the 2025 roster rank among the Top-25 in the OIT career record book – as Kaley Whalen is No. 4 in digs (1,395), Aleksen Thayer is No. 9 in blocks (244), Lucy Boyd is No. 14 in assists (910), Savanna Sterck is No. 18 in kills (618), Abigail Sorensen is No. 19 in digs (667) and No. 25 in aces (66), with Willow Jacobson is No. 23 in blocks (146).
 
NEXT WEEK: Tech will host Cal Poly Humboldt in a Saturday scrimmage in the final tune-up for the 20-game Cascade Conference season.