ASHLAND–The Southern Oregon University Raiders are coming out from day 1 of the Paul Elliott Invitational, winning both of their games.

But the second win came by going the distance with a highly ranked opponent.

The big of the game of the invitational was when the host-team Raiders had taken on the fifth-ranked team in the NAIA in Biola University Eagles.

If this was a heavyweight boxing match for the World Title; the Eagles, the experience well trained fighter, is going toe-to-toe with the young, up and coming challenger with the Raiders.

It was the Eagles that were up two sets to one over the Raiders heading into the fourth set looking to break out of a slow start to each of the first three sets.

The prayer was answered when the Eagles open up the set 12-9.  Surely the Eagles were beginning to fly away from the Raiders in the match.

Timeout by Southern Oregon.

Coming out from the timeout, the Raiders felt the adrenaline starting to pump as they stormed back to tie it at 12.  And now the challenger began to trade blow-by-blow punches with the champion.

Back and forth of tying.  Raiders tied the game and take the lead, then the Eagles would tie it again and they take the lead.

Before the crowd in Bob Rhiem Arena knew what hit them, it was 24-24 before the Raiders  wrapped up a 26-24 set to send it to five.

With the momentum on their side, the Raiders (2-0) tore through the final set with a 14-9 run.  Check.

But the Eagles won’t go down easily as they tried to clawed back against their young opponent.

14-10.  14-11.

On certainly what could be the Eagles final breath, they fought hard on each serve leading up to this point before Angela Spieker had set-up a Natalie Scheller kill that had end the  game, 15-11.

“We got such a young team, for them to get a short victory like that is going to do a lot for us for the rest of the year,” said head volleyball coach Josh Rohlfing, “It’s not the end all, it’s just the beginning of the year…but I felt good about what my girls did, they stayed solid, they made a lot of mistakes but they stayed aggressive.”

This isn’t the end of Invitational play for the Raiders.  They will face Westminster at noon tomorrow, and play Viterbo tomorrow night at 8p.m.

Team Records

#5 Biola University (2)                     25    20     25     24     11          1-1

Southern Oregon University (3)     19    25     19      26     15         2-0