ASHLAND — The day began for Southern Oregon with news that an injury would sideline one of its all-star attackers. It ended with a showcase of the Raiders’ depth as they took down their highest-ranked victim ever.

In the program’s first top-five matchup, the No. 5 Raiders rose to the occasion against No. 2 Eastern Oregon with a 25-20, 25-20, 20-25, 25-19 win Saturday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion. It kept them perfect at 9-0 overall and 3-0 in the Cascade Conference while going down as the first loss for the back-to-back defending champion Mountaineers (9-1, 1-1).

Marin Mackey led three Raiders whose kill totals landed in double figures with 18in addition to 14 digs and four assisted blocks. Sadie Byrd got hands on eight of SOU’s 13 total blocks that dropped EOU’s team attacking average to .156.

We’re leveling up,” said SOU coach Josh Rohlfing, whose team had lost its previous six matches against EOU. “We have firepower and depth at every position, but it comes down to executing the little things that we work on every day. We’re tough to beat when that happens.”

They did it without right-side hitter Megan Perry, who owns the CCC’s top attacking average but sustained an injury during her match-leading 18-kill performance Friday against College of Idaho. Redshirt-freshman Friley Curtiss got the call in her stead — she’d only appeared in two previous matches this season — and answered with eight kills on 21 swings and two blocks.

They also got a season-best outing from outside hitter Mylena Testoni — it included 12 kills on a match-best .417 attack and 11 digs — and more outstanding work from All-American right-side Hannah Stadstad with 12 kills and six blocks. Vitoria Mattos (26 assists) and Annie Hite (25 assists) conducted the team’s .233 attack, the most efficient for a Mountaineers opponent in 33 matches dating back to last season.

Byrd pitched in six kills but her best work was on the defensive side. Along with her season-high block total, the Raiders got five more assisted in the middle from Linda Conceicao.

The Raiders never trailed in the first set after jumping out to a 5-1 lead. They began the second in a 5-0 hole but worked out of it thanks to a spark from Curtiss, who provided six of her kills during the frame.

After the Mountaineers took the third, they also led 17-16 in the fourth when Byrd struck with two kills and a block during a 4-0 SOU push. Tais Vega later served the Raiders through a 5-0 match-closing run and dropped a service ace in the corner to end it.

Ashton Bales led EOU with 14 kills and Kiauna Mack had seven to go with six of the team’s 12 blocks. Keira Vaughn, the Mountaineers’ top attacker on the season, was limited to nine kills and accumulated seven errors on 30 swings.