Sioux City, Iowa - The 8^th-ranked Cougar Volleyball team fell to Southern Oregon University 3-1 (15-25, 25-19, 24-26, 24-26) this afternoon in their first pool play match of the 2014 NAIA Volleyball National Championship, presented by J&L Enterprises. Columbia, drops to 33-6 overall on the year with the victory. The Raiders, ranked 17^th in the Final NAIA Top 25 Poll, improves to 24-5.

In set one, Columbia opened with a 9-7 lead after big-time kills by Brooke Simpson and Lydie van Deursen, but the Raiders countered with an 11-2 run to take an 18-11 lead. The Cougars rallied back, but Southern Oregon was able to use a 7-4 run to secure the 25-15 first set win. Set two was close in the early stages as both teams found themselves tied at 8-8 after trading errors. Columbia then rattled off 4 of the next 5 points to take a 12-9 lead. The Raiders kept things close, but the Cougars limited Southern Oregon's chances for a run as they took the 25-16 second set win. After a back-and-forth third set battle Southern Oregon would close out the 26-24 victory to lead the match 2-1. The fourth set of the match was tightly contested throughout once again as the score was tied at 22 late in the set. Both teams traded points tying the score at 24, but two Columbia attack errors would allow the Raiders to run away with the 26-24 fourth set win.

Columbia was led offensively by Brooke Simpson after registering a double-double with 16 kills and 12 digs. Manon Soraru chipped in 10 kills while Sarah Schwentker contributed a team high 14 digs and two service aces. van Deursen dished out a game-high 37 assists.

The Cougars will resume pool play tomorrow afternoon with a matchup against No. 21 ranked Vanguard University, who fell 3-0 (27-25, 25-17, 25-19) to defending national champion Texas at Brownsville in today's earlier match. Match time is scheduled for 3:15 pm at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux Center, Iowa.