EUGENE, Ore.– The NCU volleyball team was unable to play the role of spoiler on Saturday evening as the No. 10 ranked Southern Oregon University Raiders swept the home team to claim their share of the Cascade Collegiate Conference regular-season championship, 25-22, 25-19, 25-16.
 
On the final night of the season, the Beacons said goodbye to seniors Haley Meili, Laurie Salness, Megan Van Marter, and Elle Vershingel in a pre-match ceremony.
 
The Raider offense was virtually unstoppable as SOU hit .358 on the night with just nine attack errors. The Raiders also out-blocked the Beacons 7-2 and held a 44-37 advantage in digs. The Beacons owned a 5-4 lead in service aces as Meili closed out her career with three.
 
SOU (24-3, 17-3) was led by Makayla Hoyt, collecting 12 kills and three blocks. Dani Johnson and Elliot Cook each went without an error in the match, grabbing nine and seven kills respectively. Hannah Bogatin led all players with 20 assists and Emma Ryan posted a match-high 12 digs.
 
The Beacons (12-17, 5-15 CCC) were led in the loss by Van Marter, collecting 13 kills. The senior hit .476 in the match and firmly cemented her new school-record as she closed out the season hitting .423. Van Marter leads the CCC in hitting percentage, ranks fourth in the NAIA, and can now claim the school record by over 100 points. The previous single-season best for NCU was .313, set by Chandler Gabrio in 2013.
 
Claire Salness added another nine kills and 27 swings in the loss. She ends her sophomore season with a new NCU record for attempts and becomes the first ever to attack more than 1000 times, finishing with 1012. She breaks a nine-year old school record held by Hall of Famer Cassie Bishop (968). Salness also ends the year with 314 kills, the second-highest total in school history.
 
Kayla Olson collected 11 digs to lead NCU and end the season with 443, the most by a Beacon in five years and the fifth-highest in school history. She now has 786 career digs, placing her seventh on the all-time list.