Cascade Collegiate Conference VB: SOU 3, Northwest 0

www.cascadeconference.org

(Ashland, Oregon) - The 16th-ranked Southern Oregon volleyball team cruised to a 25-17, 25-19, 25-15 victory over Northwest tonight in the Cascade Conference semifinals at McNeal Pavilion, setting up another battle with 13th-ranked College of Idaho for the conference title.

Southern Oregon improved to 21-3 on the season with the victory. Northwest finished the season 16-10. College of Idaho won its semifinal 26-24, 25-13, 25-16 to advance to the championship match. The winner of the match will receive the conference's automatic berth to the NAIA National Championships. The championship match is set for 3 p.m. at McNeal Pavilion.

Sarah Holgen led the way for the Raiders against the Eagles, finishing with 16 kills and only two errors. Megan Bartling finished with 14 kills and just one error and All-American setter Lindsey Stone had a match-high 46 assists.

The Raiders jumped out of the gates quickly in the first set behind Holgen's seven kills. The Raiders hit .265 in the first set and held the Eagles to just .194.

The offense only got better for the Raiders as the host hit .306 in the second set and committed only three errors in the final set and hit .424 to close out the match.

Becky Johnstone and Leanne Stennett both had double-digit digs for the Raiders. Johnstone finished with 15 digs and Stennett had 13 digs.

Lauren Holtz had 11 kills for the Eagles.

In the earlier semifinal, Sarah Harris led the COI attack with 11 kills and only one error. Harris also had four blocks. Liz Myers finished with six blocks. Whitney Owen had a match-high 23 digs, while Madie Machurek had 19 assists and Naomi Reimer had 18 assists.

SOU and College of Idaho split the two regular season matchups this year, each winning in three sets on their own court.

Source: Southern Oregon University - www.souraiders.com