Despite facing adversity early in the evening, the No. 3 Corban University Women's Volleyball team (23-2, 16-1) rallied around their deep lineup to sweep the visiting Southern Oregon University Raiders (16-8, 10-7) in straight sets, 25-20, 25-21, and 25-18.
"SOU is big and physical at the net. We knew we needed to serve and pass well tonight," Warriors' Head Coach Kim McLain said earlier this evening. "I was proud of the team and how they stepped up to the challenge tonight, it was truly a team effort!"
With an early injury sidelining a Warriors' starter, multiple role players on the 2022 squad were called upon tonight to step up to fill the void, which they completed with ease against one of the Cascade Collegiate Conference's (CCC) most prolific opponents.
The Warriors and Raiders battled back and forth to open the match tonight, locked in a 6-all tie early before the Warriors counted off four-straight points and forced SOU into an early timeout to rethink their gameplan. Southern Oregon would pull to within a point at 21-20, but two SOU attacking errors and a pair of kills from senior opposite hitter Ally Schmidt secured the Warriors a 25-20 first set victory.
Corban managed to take a slight 10-9 advantage to open the second set, but the Raiders countered with an 8-2 run that forced McLain into calling a much-needed timeout. Before the Warrior fans present and watching online knew it, Corban had flipped the script on the Raiders, as the Warriors scored 12 of the next 14 points to take a commanding lead and push SOU into an uncomfortable 0-2 hole.
The third and final set belonged to Warriors' sophomore outside hitter Rylee Troutman, who scored over half of her final kills in the final frame alone to lead Corban to victory, smashing eight kills in the set. Despite a push from the Raiders in the middle of the set to pull within a single point, Troutman and the Warriors found their momentum once again, with sophomore outside hitter Ainslie Ridgway clutching the final kill to send the Raiders home tonight in three sets.
In their 16th straight victory, the Warriors saw the only double-double of the evening on their side of the net once again, as Troutman tallied 14 kills and 10 digs to record her 12th game in a row with double-digit kills. Freshman opposite hitter Makayla Roginski smashed 11 kills of her own with a .364 attacking percentage, while Ridgway added six kills and four digs in an expanded role this evening.
The Corban setting duo of senior Jadyn Mullen and freshman Abby Guindy split the offensive command in almost two identical halves tonight, as Mullen recorded 22 dimes while Guindy added 19 to the mix. Senior libero Kealani Ontai once again led all players in digs, tallying 17 on the evening.
SOU outside hitter Hailey Van Well was the only Raider to see double-digits offensively, scoring 10 kills and adding four digs in the backcourt. Setter Hannah Randall dished out a game-high 24 assists tonight with six digs, while libero Kayla Neidigh recorded a team-high 11 digs.
No. 3 Corban Women's Volleyball team is set to host the Oregon Tech Owls (12-10, 9-7) tomorrow evening at 7pm PDT, looking to extend their win streak to 17 games.
Original source can be found here.
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