SOU rolls into McNeal

Southern Oregon's rough start to the 2008 volleyball season wasn't a surprise to head coach Josh Rohlfing. In fact, for the man who scheduled five matches against teams that are currently ranked among the nation's top eight, including two against No. 1 Fresno Pacific, it was a calculated risk.

But the reward — big-match experience against the nation's elite — was worth it to Rohlfing, and in a meeting with team leaders back in August he issued a warning, and a challenge.

"I said to them point blank, 'We may start 3-7 this season,'" Rohlfing recalled prior to Wednesday's practice at McNeal Pavilion. "'We have a tough schedule, we're very young, there's going to be some growth. Hang in there.'

"And that's what we did."

Four weeks after Rohlfing's prediction came to pass — the Raiders fell to 3-7 with a straight-game loss to Western Oregon on Sept. 11 — SOU appears to have turned a corner and enters a weekend home stand against Northwest (tonight) and Evergreen State (Saturday) as the hottest team in the Cascade Conference. The Raiders (11-7, 9-1 Cascade) have won eight matches in a row heading into the second half of league play and are ranked No. 20 in the latest NAIA top 25 poll. They are currently tied with Oregon Tech (14-3, 9-1) for first place in the conference standings, one match ahead of both College of Idaho (11-7, 8-2) and Eastern Oregon (13-5, 8-2).

Both matches are slated to start at 7 p.m. at McNeal Pavilion, where SOU hasn't played since whipping Corban 3-0 back on Sept. 20.

Northwest (8-10, 2-8) and Evergreen State (1-14, 1-9) represent the league's lower rung, but the Raiders say keeping their intensity up will not be a problem. There are motivations beyond simply winning, after all. Tonight, for instance, will be SOU's first home match since the students returned from summer vacation and the Raiders would love to give them a spectacular "welcome back."

"Being at home helps a lot," sophomore outside hitter Samantha Yutzie said. "Just having our crowd there and wanting to — show off might be a bad word — but kind of show off for the school because it is our first time at home in front of everybody."

"I think all the girls are very excited," added junior setter Lindsey Stone. "It's going to be fun to play in front of people. It's a show. It's what we do, it's what we love. So, it'll be fun to have a couple more people check us out."

Stone and Yutzie, as well as middle blocker Mia Wortel and libero Maggie Rivers have led Southern Oregon's charge through the first half of league play. Stone, who has won four straight Cascade Conference setter of the week awards, leads the league and ranks seventh nationally with 10.3 assists per game. Wortel has a team-best 142 kills and a solid .356 hitting percentage, Yutzie ranks second with 141 kills and Rivers has a team-high 218 digs.

Since that ugly loss to Western Oregon a month ago, the Raiders have been virtually untouchable, losing just one game in eight matches despite spending most of the streak — six matches — on the road. Why the turnaround? For one, the level of competition has dipped dramatically. SOU isn't playing the likes of Fresno Pacific or Biola anymore. Secondly, the team is healthy again after starting the season with a slew of injuries.

Finally, the Raiders claim to have found their identity.

"Every team you have, you have to figure out how people jive and what people respond to and what people work best together," Stone said. "Those minor tweaks created a chain reaction of chemistry."

Maturity has played an equally important roll, added Rohlfing.

"They've grown up a lot," he said. "It's only been a couple months, but there are still times when we start a match and we have two freshman, two sophomores, a junior and a senior on the court.

"The largest improvement is going to come in match situations. They're going to learn on the job because you can't make up for that. When you have a young team, you have to have that."

SOU swept Evergreen State on Sept. 12 and Northwest on Sept. 13. Both matches were blowouts. How one-sided were they? When the Raiders finished off Evergreen State with a 25-21 victory in Game 3, it marked the first time that either team scored more than 19 points in a game against SOU.

Still, Stone says the Raiders won't be looking ahead to next week's showdown with Eastern Oregon, the only Cascade Conference team to beat SOU.

"No matter what team you (play), you walk into it with the exact same mentality," she said. "You have the exact same focus and you have the exact same respect.

"Any game day you get the butterflies in the morning, so I think that we're all looking at it as another opportunity to get better."

Sports editor Joe Zavala can be reached at 482-3456 x 224 or joe.zavala@dailytidings.com