The Southwestern Oregon Community College volleyball team took on a talented Linn-Benton Community College team Saturday and managed a close win in five games 25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 24-26, 15-12.

“This was a scary team,” said Southwestern coach John Speasl of the deceptively 1-4 Roadrunners. “They have great players but have a bad record. They’re due to break out at any time. They were a handful for us.”

The NWAACC South Region win moved the Lakers to 4-1 in league play, trailing just 5-0, No. 1 ranked Chemeketa, which handed Southwestern its first loss on Friday.

Katie Jolliffe had a monster match for Southwestern, recording 18 kills, 23 digs and a 2.6 serve/receive average on a 3.0 scale.

Playing banged up, Jessica Bond chipped in with 35 assists, 32 digs, five kills and a solo block.

Also injured is Rose Mattson, who played the match with a broken hand in a padded cast and still managed 10 kills up front. Kristine Kosinski was also solid at the net, tallying seven kills, five solo blocks and two block assists.

The win, and the overall success of the team this year, has Speasl feeling good about the future.

“It’s getting exciting,” he said.

The Lakers have a break this week, until they travel to Auburn, Wash., for the Green River Crossover tournament this weekend.

Cross country

Southwestern’s women had a breakout performance at the Warner Pacific-Cascade Open cross country meet Saturday.

“All our women had PRs in this meet,” Southwestern coach Dan Neal said.

Francesca Frasier broke 20 minutes for the first time, finishing 10th overall in 19 minutes, 52 seconds on the 5,000-meter course. Kendra Nelson ran her first meet of the season and was 20th in 20:56.

“She should be running alongside Frasier within the next two weeks,” Neal said of Nelson, who missed the first four meets with a hip injury.

Emily Damon was 24th in 21:18, with Rae Jeanne Evoniuk, a 400-meter specialist, 26th in 21:54. Kristy Watson was 35th (23:37), Megan Delopp 41st (24:59), and Alexa Adams 48th (27:34)

The Lakers were fifth in the team race, behind four-year schools Corban, Pacific, Cascade College and Mills College.

Steven Sanders led Southwestern’s men, finishing 12th in 27:27 on the 8,000-meter course. Andrew Scott was 21st (28:31), former soccer player Eudoro Guizar 25th (28:57), Willie Bennett 29th (29:24), Willy Wayrynen 30th (29:25), Chris Sousa 38th (31:15), Bo Flora 45th (32:14) and Jeremy Flowers 46th (32:50).

The Lakers tied for fifth place in the meet, won by Corban.

Southwestern runs at Clackamas Community College this weekend, on a course that will host the NWAACC South Region Championships.

“I really feel that these kids are giving us everything they have,” Neal said. “Coach Kori Frasier is doing a great job developing the workouts that have the athletes improving on a regular basis. It’s kids like these that make coaching fun, and the season seems to be flying by.”

Soccer teams swept

Southwestern’s soccer teams were swept in their eastern road trip over the weekend.

Southwestern’s men lost to Treasure Valley 5-0 and Walla Walla 3-0 to drop to 2-9-2 on the season.

The Southwestern women lost 4-2 at Treasure Valley and 10-1 at Walla Walla. Sara Droege scored all three goals. The Lakers also lost 5-1 at Chemeketa last week, with the goal coming from Brittany Huth, and sit at 1-13-0 on the season.

The teams are on the road again this week. The men are at South Puget Sound on Friday, while the women visit Lane. Both teams are at Clark on Saturday.