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THURSDAY February 5, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels November 17, 2003 Raiders fight back to claim CC tourney title Southern overcomes 2-1 deficit to beat Albertson By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings For the 20th-ranked Raider volleyball team, the championship match of the Cascade Conference tournament against Albertson College (19-9) was a reflection of the squad's season. Just like in its eight-match winning streak that opened the season and set a school record, Southern Oregon (19-5) started off strong and looked unstoppable, claiming victory in Game 1 with a whopping 30-12 margin. But, as in the Raiders' uncharacteristic losses to Western Baptist and Northwest College mid-season, they lost Game 2 30-24 and had Game 3 in their pocket before Albertson scored the last four points of the match to win 29-31. That left Southern in a must-win situation in final two games of the match, just like the team had to win at the close of the conference play to earn the regular-season Cascade Conference title. Thank goodness the tournament encapsulated the Raiders' season - they took games 4 and 5, to win the Cascade Conference Tournament. Back and forth Albertson may have scored the first point of the match, but Game 1 belonged to Southern. SOU sophomore Haley Phillips broke the six-all tie with a service ace, inspiring senior All-American Kristina Matchett to attack the 'Yotes. Matchett scored the next two points on kills and would tally eight of her match-high 20 kills in Game 1. Southern rallied against Albertson, boasting an amazing .324 attack efficiency while squelching the Coyotes down to a negative .060 hitting percentage. The Raiders flew to a 30-12 victory, their best performance in the tournament. But the match wasn't over yet. The Raiders led early in Game 2, coming back from a 3-6 deficit, but Albertson broke the game open and SOU wouldn't have another look at victory. The 'Yotes won 30-24, bringing the match to a 1-1 tie. "It was a strange first game, but we knew they'd be back," 13th-year Raider head coach Paul Elliott said. "We were not fooled by Game 2, either. That's the nature of the game." Almost The Raiders started off Game 3 worse than Game 2. Southern spent most of the game battling to stay on pace with Albertson. SOU took its first lead at 19-18, only to fall behind again as the Coyotes scored five straight points to climb on top at 19-23. Buoyed by the solid play of junior outside hitter Kristin Ferris, Southern managed to square up with Albertson at 27-all, score two quick points on kills from sophomore setter Jamie McCreary and Matchett, giving the home team game point. But two Raider errors brought Game 3 back to a tie at 29-all and the 'Yotes took advantage. Freshman outside hitter Michelle Riordan and junior outside hitter Brittany Bonnett sent kills slicing through holes in the SOU defense and Game 3 belonged to Albertson. "When you have two good teams in volleyball, you're going to have natural swings," Elliott explained. But after Game 3, the Raiders had to make changes to get back into title contention. "We tweaked our block a little bit, which, in turn helped our defense." Doing it the hard way The Raiders landed in a must-win scenario following Game 3 - a must-win-two scenario, to be exact. "Boy, I was a little worried when we gave up Game 3," Elliott admitted. But Southern hung in there at the beginning of Game 4, maintaining a 1 or 2-point margin over Albertson. Then, at 11-9 with control of the serve, middle blocker Lindsey Aitchison went out with a sprained ankle. On Friday, the Raiders handled fifth-seed Oregon Tech without the senior's help, but Albertson was a different type of team. "We prefer to have a healthy Lindsey, but you play with what you have," Elliott said. "Lindsey's an all-star." With a hole in the Raider front row, junior Kelly Thoni stepped up. "We really believe in Kelly," Elliott said . "She's a great player, a great middle blocker. We bring in Kelly and she makes plays." Thoni made plays, Matchett made plays, Ferris made plays - at 21-19 the Raiders went on a 9-2 sprint to win Game 4. With one game to play, the match sat tied at 2-2. It's Southern's court Not only was Saturday's game at McNeal Pavilion, it was the Raiders' last game at McNeal Pavilion this season. In front of one of the best crowds the squad has attracted all year, Southern had to win. So they did. The Raiders never trailed in Game 5, winning 15-12 to take the tournament title. Elliott had two reasons Southern came away with the tourney victory: "Look at our outside hitters," he said. "And we dig balls, that's one thing we do really well." Matchett led all players with a 20 kills and 30 digs, while Ferris had 17 kills and 18 digs of her own. McCreary accumulated a match-high 59 assists and Phillips had a match-best 4 serving aces. Senior 'Yotes middle blocker Kristen Bailey paced the Coyotes with 19 kills. As thrilling as the come-from-behind saga was, the importance of the victory lies in its usefulness to the SOU team as the women get into the real action of the championship series. "It was key for seeding purposes," Elliott said, thinking about the NAIA Region 1 tournament this weekend. "I think it's going to secure us the No. 1 seed in the tourney. We'll have better draws." Raider Notes: The closest score of the night, the 29-31 spread in Game 3, came during Albertson's best hitting percentage (.250) and Southern's worst (.119) ... Aitchison led all players with two blocks and tallied seven kills, even though she didn't play the last two games ... Albertson had two more kills than SOU, but twice as many errors ... Senior Raider outside hitter Sara Tatom had the best offensive output of the night, as she finished 11-for-23 on attacks with just three errors to finish with a .348 hitting efficiency. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: A new improved archive search is coming! Look for it in mid-February! .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams