KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Southern Oregon used a quick start and a late match finish to complete a 3-set sweep of Oregon Tech, as the No. 17-ranked Raiders earned a 25-21, 25-18, 27-25 victory at Danny Miles Court.
The Raiders (11-4, 3-2 CCC) forced OIT into 25 hitting errors to earn the road win over their rivals.
The Lady Owls (7-6, 1-4), finishing a string of 4-straight matches against Top-25 opponents, posted 11 team blocks in the loss, with the NAIA blocking leader,
Aleksen Thayer, leading the way with seven blocks.
SOU opened the match on a 10-1 run, forcing Tech into five hitting errors – and never trailed in the set. The Owls would claw back within 24-21 on a Thayer kill, but the Raiders answered with a Maya Watters kill to end the set.
A tight second set featured 12 ties and seven lead changes, with the Lady Owls taking an 18-17 lead on back-to-back errors from Watters. SOU earned a side-out and rattled off seven-straight points on the serve of Katie White, getting two aces and Duda Leite adding three kills, to stun the home crowd.
Tech found their rhythm in Set 3, getting kills from Thayer,
Kaliko Schilling and Alexa Gugilotta to build a 20-17 lead, a margin that grew to 24-21 on a
Steffini Goss kill. Southern staved off three set points with a 4-point run, before a service error tied the score at 25-25. Leite earned a side-out with a kill, before an attack error ended the match.
Tiffini Goss led the Owls with seven kills and
Steffini Goss had six kills and four blocks. Setter
Taryn Ramsay had 25 assists and four blocks in the loss.
Friley Curtiss led SOU with nine kills, Leite added eight, with Marian Vega Castro recording six kills in eight swings in two sets, adding four blocks.
Tech looks to get back in the win column tomorrow, hosting Warner Pacific at 6 p.m.
