EUGENE, Ore. – Southern Oregon remained atop the Cascade Collegiate Conference on Saturday evening with a sweeping victory over Northwest Christian University, 25-20, 25-10, 25-14. The Beacons remained competitive for much of the match, but couldn't overcome the middle hitters for a Raider team on the cusp of the NAIA's top-25.

Switching back to a 5-1 style rotation for the first time since the season's opening week, the Beacons adjusted quickly, playing very solid volleyball during the first set. The Raiders jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and still held the advantage at 18-12 when the Beacons used a 5-0 rally to climb within striking distance at 18-17. Cassie Bishop scored on back-to-back kills and Cotie Howard followed with consecutive service aces to bring the Beacons back in. SOU, however, closed things out and never surrendered the lead. NCU played very tight in the set, committing just one non-hitting error. Unfortunately, the Southern Oregon offense had just one hitting error and 18 kills.

Set two belonged to the Raiders, who grabbed an 8-1 lead and never looked back. The Beacons committed nine hitting errors and claimed a -.238 kill percentage in the set. NCU, however, returned from the intermission after the second set looking to make a statement. They did so, staying right with SOU and grabbing their first lead of the evening at 6-5.

NCU had a 12-11 lead, but then the Raiders began to flex their muscle, showing why they are receiving votes in the NAIA coaches poll. Lindsey Stone took service after a Mia Wortel kill and proceeded to serve ten straight points as Southern Oregon went ahead 21-12, before closing out the match with a combined 14-2 rally.

After the match Head Coach Mike Gaffaney said, “We played really well in spurts tonight and this weekend we have been doing a lot of what we have set out to do, and have done it against some very good teams. We still need to develop into a team that can keep our momentum going through an entire set and an entire match.”

The Beacons (5-10, 0-8 CCC) were led offensively by Bishop. The sophomore led the team with six kills and ten digs, while hitting .417, her highest kill percentage in conference play this season. Whitney Hoff ran the 5-1, collecting 15 assists, seven digs and a pair of service aces. As a team, NCU had seven aces, getting three from Tessa Greatwood and another pair from Howard.

Southern Oregon (9-7, 7-1 CCC) had strong performances from a number of sources. Setter Lindsey Stone grabbed 34 assists, seven digs, five aces and three kills while Samantha Yutzie had eight kills. Becky Johnstone and Maggie Rivers combined for 23 digs and Lead Bergstrom came off the bench to collect six kills and 5 blocks. But the story of the night was the play of Wortel. The senior Middle Blocker had 13 kills, without an error, hitting .591. She also became the seventh player in SOU history to cross the 1000 kill barrier, needing just seven kills coming into the night. Wortel added a match-high six blocks, as the SOU team out-blocked the Beacons 9-1 on the evening.

“Mia is just a phenomenal player,” said Gaffaney. “She didn't even get her normal playing time because they let their bench loose tonight, but she was the play that we wanted to hold back tonight. This team is at the top of our conference for a reason, and she's a big part of the package.”

Northwest Christian will return to action next Friday as they travel to Washington to face Evergreen State University. The Raiders will head to Portland on Friday to take on Warner Pacific in Cascade Conference Action.