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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 27, 2005 SOU men No. 2 in season’s first poll Becomes first team in school history to earn first-place votes Wire reports SOUTHERN OREGON senior post Shea Washington has helped the Raiders earn a No. 2 ranking. File photo | Ashland Daily Tidings Coming off the most fruitful season in program history, the Southern Oregon University men’s basketball team received a best-ever No. 2 perch in Wednesday’s NAIA Division II preseason poll. Coach Brian McDermott’s team is the first SOU men’s squad in any sport to receive first-place votes in an NAIA top-25 rating (three), and the Raiders finished only nine poll points away from perennial powerhouse Northwestern, Iowa for the preseason top spot. Southern returns three starters and seven letterwinners from last year’s 22-10 Cascade Conference championship team that made an unprecedented run to the national tournament quarterfinals. Only a last-second 66-64 loss to Cedarville, Ohio (the No. 5 team in Wednesday’s rating) separated SOU from a spot in the Final Four. Senior All-American forward Shea Washington, a 2004-05 national player-of-the-year finalist and the first conference player ever to average in double-digits in both scoring (20.1) and rebounding (10.0), is the central figure in SOU’s rise to NAIA prominence. The Raiders open the season Nov. 4 against Puget Sound Christian at the Oregon Tech Invitational with a likely tournament championship showdown against the fourth-ranked Owls the following night. Southern’s previous top men’s hoops billing (No. 3) came in the final 1998-99 regular-season rating, and last year’s squad reached No. 6 before settling at No. 11. Both SOU basketball teams will be showcased tonight in “Moonlight Madness” at McNeal Pavilion (an 8:30 start), and the Raider men scrimmage a group of Southern alumni Friday at 7 p.m. Reserved season tickets for the 14-game home men’s basketball schedule are available for $100 each. Call (541) 552-8554 for more information. Volleyball Southern Oregon University seniors Nicholette Le Bel and Jamie McCreary are recipients of Cascade Conference weekly volleyball accolades as a result of outstanding weekend performances against Evergreen State and 13th-ranked Northwest. Le Bel received the league (and NAIA Region I) player-of-the-week honors for the third time this season and for the fourth time during her all-star career, while McCreary is the first Raider player to receive a weekly award four times in a single season. Le Bel, a 6-foot all-star middle blocker from Central Point, augmented her conference MVP candidacy with team-bests of 30 kills and nine blocks in the two matches and upped her season kills-per-game average to 4.0, which ranks second in the 10-team circuit. A 5-foot-7 setter who presides over the loop’s most efficient offense, McCreary is the conference setter-of-the-week after compiling 83 weekend assists, 18 digs and three aces. A six-time award winner over three seasons as a starter, the Minden, Nev. native surpassed former SOU All-American outside hitter Kristina Matchett (a three-time player-of-the-week winner in both 2001 and ’02) as the school’s first four-time honoree. The all-star duo helped the defending conference champion and 11th-ranked Raiders (21-3, 13-1 CC) secure their 13th consecutive match victory by sweeping Northwest in a crucial first-place showdown last Saturday in Ashland. Off to the best start in program history, Southern Oregon travels to Concordia and Corban this weekend. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Free Music Downloads Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks Online Casinos FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products best online casino teleconferencing High-End Gaming Computers Diamonds Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Discounted Website Hostings Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Myspace Layouts Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Student Loans Bonus Casino ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Canadian Pharmacy Casino Gambling Sites Backpacks Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams