COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. — Before last Friday, the Walla Walla Women's Volleyball team had never defeated a ranked opponent. Make it two after a straight set victory over No. 19 Southern Oregon in a Cascade Conference match at Windemuth Court on Saturday.

The win was the second upset of the weekend for the Wolves who improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in CCC action. WWU entered the weekend a combined 0-40 versus Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon before conference play opened for the 2025 season, the Wolves notched their first program victory against both teams.

"It is a testament to all the hard work the players are putting in, even since last year," Walla Walla head coach Kiana Krumm said. "We came out with the mentality that we are going to win and our goal was to sweep 3-0 today and we did that. It is not to say we didn't have our ups and our downs throughout the game, but I think that was good for us because it really helped the girls learn to trust each other and gain that confidence in each other."

Southern Oregon dropped to 3-6 overall and 0-2 in conference play.

Sahara Browning took control of the offense with 18 kills, the only player on either team to reach double-digits in that category. Yaimaris had 27 assists, eight kills, six digs and two aces. Myckayla Shaver had four blocks and Paula Flores led the Wolves with 16 digs.

WWU held the Raiders to a hit percentage of just .012 with 17 kills and 16 errors. Walla Walla had 47 kills and 21 errors with an attack percentage of .243. 

Andressa Ribeiro Soa led Southern Oregon with five kills. Bella Cormack and Friley Curtiss were strong up front with six total blocks each and Tais Vega had eight digs in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Much like the match on Friday, the Wolves jumped out to an early lead and showed why they are a team to pay attention to in the 2025 season. Flores started the match with a kill. Garcia, who had eight aces on Friday, got her first ace of the match on the second point. Natalia Jimenez had back-to-back kills and Browning slammed one home and gave the home crowd something to cheer for early with a 6-2 lead.

Walla Walla continued to apply pressure in the first set with a kill by Lauren Moody, two straight attack errors by SOU and an ace by Browning to push the lead to 12-4. The lead would balloon to 10 later in the set, but the Raiders went on a three-point rally to make it 19-12 before Krumm called a timeout. Out of the timeout it was all WWU. The Wolves won six of the final seven points to take the opening set 25-13.

The No. 19 team in the latest NAIA poll jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. The Wolves responded with four straight points of their own. The two teams traded points with neither team able to grasp onto momentum before a kill by Flores to make it 11-8 changed the script. Browning followed that point with a kill, Jimenez and Shaver combined for a block, Garcia earned her second ace of the match and Flores and Shaver blocked another and the home team extended its lead to 15-8.

Both teams went on a four-point streak to make it an 19-12 set score, but the Wolves again took control. Two kills by Browning and an attack error by Curtiss of SOU created a set point for Walla Walla. Southern Oregon was able to fend off two attempts, but Garcia slammed home the exclamation mark on a 25-16 second set victory for Walla Walla.

The third set was full of back and forth action by both teams. The Raiders would win multiple points and the Wolves would respond. Walla Walla would take the lead and SOU would snatch it back. The largest lead by either team was three points.
Southern Oregon jumped out to a 3-0 lead, WWU had an early 9-6 advantage and finally the Wolves broke a 21-21 tie with three consecutive points and had a chance to close out the match. Garcia was able to do just that two points later for the straight set upset.

UP NEXT

Walla Walla will host (RV) Lewis-Clark State at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Windemuth Court in a battle between two teams with perfect conference records.

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