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Southern Oregon proved on Wednesday that when it’s in top form it can go toe-to-toe with defending national champion and fourth-ranked Texas at Brownsville. The 17th-ranked Raiders also showed how quickly things can get out of hand if they happen to struggle against the Ocelots, which is what went down for much of the NAIA National Championships pool play match in Sioux City, Iowa. Texas at Brownsville took advantage of Southern Oregon’s serving and passing woes and fought off four set points after the Raiders finally found their footing to earn a 25-19, 25-13, 27-25 victory at the Tyson Events Center. The loss dropped the Raiders (24-6) to 1-1 in pool play heading into their final pool play match today against No. 21 Vanguard, which is also 1-1 in Sioux City after upsetting No. 8 Columbia on Wednesday. SOU can clinch a spot in the final 12-team, single-elimination tournament with a win, while a loss will end its season. Texas at Brownsville (31-4) improved to 2-0 in pool play and clinched a berth in the final tournament, which begins Friday. Southern Oregon steamrolled Vanguard in straight sets back in August, but SOU head coach Josh Rohlfing scouted the Lions Wednesday and came away impressed. “Vanguard looked really good - really good,” he said. “Columbia didn’t play great but I think Vanguard is a really solid team. We’re definitely going to have our hands full. They’ve improved a lot as this year’s progressed.” While the Ocelots’ formidable attack and imposing frontline were major factors, the Raiders often were their own most challenging opponent Wednesday. A day after putting on a clinic against Columbia, SOU shanked seven service errors, four service-return errors and 27 attack errors, essentially handing Texas at Brownsville 38 of its 77 points. Also hurting the Raiders, although not showing up in the stat sheet, were a steady stream of poor passes which stymied an attack that was already crippled by tight swings. In short, Rohlfing said, the Raiders’ nerves got the best of them. “We struggled today with Brownsville because we came in really tight, trying to win the match before it even started,” he said. “We didn’t play free and loose. So that’s our goal going into tomorrow. The confidence is there; we’ve just got to maintain our nerves.” Motade Atanda led the Raiders with 10 kills, but also had 10 hitting errors. Emma Gasman had eight kills and five digs, Paulla Pinheiro six kills and 10 digs and Lauren McGowne and Tyana Andrews split the setting duties and combined for 31 assists. As a team, SOU had 35 kills on 100 swings and a .080 attack percentage. For Texas at Brownsville, which hit at a .215 clip, Bojana Mitrovic (10 kills) led four Ocelots with at least six kills. Annelies Dokter had six kills and nine digs, Tina Sekulic 32 assists and Valquiria Caboclo eight kills and two blocks. The Raiders finally cleaned up their act in a third set that featured eight ties and four lead changes and appeared on the verge of forcing a fourth before the Ocelots stormed back from a 24-21 deficit, thanks in part to a few more SOU unforced errors. A block by Atanda and Gasman gave SOU its first chance to win the set, but following a timeout the Ocelots survived three straight sets points with a kill by Vonja Joksic followed by back-to-back attack errors by Atanda. Gasman’s spike moments later gave SOU a 25-24 lead and its fourth set point, but Dokter got it right back with her own kill and Gasman was blocked to give the Ocelots their first match point. They clinched the match on Gasman’s attack error. It was a painful way to go out for Southern Oregon, which squandered leads of 8-5 and 16-11. “It took till the third set to finally figure that piece out and by then it was a little too late,” Rohlfing said. “It was hard. In every timeout I’m just repeating, ‘Guys take a breath, take a breath.’ But we’re all right. We just gotta play our game.” Rohlfing credited Abbie Hanser with helping the Raiders pull out of their funk. Hanser had four kills on seven swings, two block assists and an assist. “(Hanser) made them have to hang out in the middle a little and that’s when we started getting kills,” Rohlfing said. Initially, the Raiders looked like they would pick up right where they left off the day before. They won the first four points of the match – three on kills. But the Ocelots won 10 of the next 12 points, a run that included four SOU attack errors and two Texas at Brownsville aces, to set an ominous tone. The Ocelots then used a 6-1 run to go up 16-8. The second set was more of the same, but worse for the Raiders. Texas at Brownsville used a 5-0 run to go up 16-9 and never let the Raiders closer than six points the rest of the way. “It was just a ball handling thing, with is unfortunate,” Rohlfing said. Women's Basketball At San Jose, Calif., the Southern Oregon University women's basketball team fell to San Jose State 110-91 in an exhibition game Tuesday at the Event Center. Autumn Durand led the Raiders with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Ashley Claussen had 11 points and 11 assists. Alexi Smith scored 14 off the bench and Bree Park canned four 3-pointers for her 12 points. San Jose State, which forced 24 turnovers, had four players score in double figures led by Ta'Rea Cunnigan's 25. The Spartans, who compete in the NCAA Division I Mountain West Conference, made their move after the game was tied 24-all midway through the first half. They led 62-47 by halftime. The Raiders maintain their 7-0 record going into the Cascade Conference openers Friday at Concordia and Saturday at Warner Pacific. They jumped up eight spots, from No. 21 to 13, in the first NAIA top-25 poll of the regular season that was released Tuesday. SOU sports information contributed to this report.