Second-ranked Class 4A Henley defeated third-ranked Class 5A Ashland in nonconference volleyball between two state-bound teams Monday, 17-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 17-15, at Ashland Middle School.

Ashland, which has a first-round bye after earning the top seed in the Southern Sky Conference, will host either Mountain View or Crescent Valley on Saturday. The Hornets have a home match Saturday against an undetermined opponent.

In Game 5 Monday, the Grizzlies had match-point with a 15-14 lead. But Henley's Autumn Wedan moved to the front row and helped the Hornets score three straight points to take the match.

Wedan finished with 28 kills, and Hornets setter Cori Wallace amassed 43 assists. .

For the Grizzlies, Niki Small racked up 15 kills and six blocks, Sam Boehnke added 10 kills and two blocks and Piper Cantrell contributed 28 digs and a pair of aces.

Callie McCoy supplied the Grizzlies with 36 assists and four aces.

Women's Basketball

The Southern Oregon women's basketball team will get a taste of the big time tonight as they take on the University of Oregon in an exhibition game to open the season.

Tipoff is at 7 in Eugene.

The Raiders are the 18th-ranked NAIA team. They then visit the Bay Area to face Holy Names Friday, Cal Maritime Saturday and Pacific Union Sunday.

"Playing Oregon gives us a chance to step up and play against one of the better programs in the nation at the D-I level," SOU coach Lynn Kennedy said. "We will use that game to get ready for Friday's game against Holy Names."

Holy Names is just outside the Top 25 at 26th in the NAIA preseason poll.

Southern Oregon returns starters Jacki Speer, Ashley Baker and Emily Brookins from last year's 29-7 team that made it to the NAIA national tournament for the second straight year.

Women's Volleyball

Southern Oregon's Angela Spieker and Becky Johnstone have been named Cascade Conference Players of the Week.

Spieker earned the conference's Setter of the Week honor and Johnstone earned the Libero of the Week honor.

Spieker, a red-shirt freshman, recorded 45 assists out of SOU's two-setter offense and led the Raiders to sweeps of Corban and Northwest Christian. Southern Oregon hit .315 as a team over the weekend.

Johnstone, a sophomore libero, had 12 digs against Corban and 13 digs the next night against Northwest Christian.

Southern Oregon (21-2, 14-1) has won 12 in a row and wraps up the regular season this weekend at Evergreen State and Northwest.