Another successful weekend for the Vikings

The Portland State volleyball team opened the weekend with a dominating win against undefeated Northern Arizona, breaking the visiting Lumberjack’s 12-game winning streak at the Stott Center on Friday night. Unfortunately for the Viks, it was a short stay on cloud nine, as the team couldn’t quite get over the hump in their comeback bid against the Northern Colorado Golden Bears, losing 15-12 in the fifth set. The weekend results move Portland State (8-10 overall, 4-2 conference) into a third place tie with Eastern Washington in the Big Sky conference standings.

The young Viks began the weekend with a bang, bombarding Northern Arizona with aggressive play at the net to capture the first set 25-15 and the second set 26-24. The Lumberjacks fought back for a third set win, but the Vikings would slam the door in the fourth set (25-16), and seal the victory 3-1.

Vikings head coach Michael Seemann emphasized how important a win is against an undefeated team.
“It feels like the beginning. We’ve had tough moments in those eight [non-conference] matches,” Seemann said. “We’ve had tough practices and we’ve been avoiding what is hard, but it was hard to beat this team and tonight, we did that exactly.”

PSU kept up the tempo with accurate serving and open communication at the net, topping Northern Arizona in total kills (60 to 48) and kill accuracy (.249 to .130). However, the match wasn’t just won on the offensive side, as the Vikings were a human wall up front, out-blocking the ‘Jacks 12-5 overall.

“One of the things we talked about was timely blocking,” Seemann. “We did a great job the first two sets, and NAU did a much better job blocking in sets three and four, but we got some good timely blocks there at the end from both [pin positions] which was crucial.”

Over the weekend, the Vikings lineup highlighted the usual team leaders, and the freshman brought much needed coverage. Against both Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado, it was freshman outside hitter Cheyne Corrado who led the Viks in total kills. Corrado dominated both offensively and defensively, finishing the weekend with 30 overall kills and leading the team in total digs with 38.

A pair of freshman middle blockers, Katie O’Brien and Leigh-Ann Haataja, also played well on both ends, as O’Brien totaled 17 kills and four digs and Haataja posted 14 kills and four digs over the weekend.?

Corrado commented that if the younger players are to keep growing, then it will take the whole team working together to teach them where and how to move, improve spacing on the court and find success in their hitting.

“This is one of the first nights we really came together as a team and it showed on the court,” Corrado said after Friday night’s win. “Everybody just did their job and we really executed and that’s the biggest thing.”

On Saturday night, the Viks would rally after falling behind two sets, only to come up short in the fifth and final frame. Portland State allowed the Bears to hold them to a dismal nine points in the opening set. The team looked more competitive in the second set, but would eventually fall 25-18.

It wasn’t until late in the third frame that the Viks really turned up the heat and got the crowd at the Stott Center involved. Freshman libero Kasi Clark served for a six-point Viking run, complete with two service aces to make the score 23-18. The Viks pushed forward with their newly found energy and captured the fourth set 25-17, taking the final point on another service ace, this time from sophomore setter Garyn Schlatter.

In the fifth and final frame it was the Bears who would have the final say. A kill by Haataja put the Viks up 9-8, but that would be last time the home team held the lead. After a number of timeouts, Northern Colorado slowly gained momentum and took the final set 15-12 off a final blast from junior Kelley Arnold who led the Bears with 20 total kills.

Despite the disappointment, the loss highlighted some areas of improvement the young team still needs to focus on. With obvious communication issues early on against the Bears, Portland State struggled to prevent runs and focus on their usual point-by-point game plan.

“I think [we can improve] playing together as a team and staying together,” sophomore Garyn Schlatter said. “There’s going to be times when teams put runs on us and we have to figure out how to do it, and in the end we’re only as good as our 13th person.”

Schlatter’s counterpart, sophomore outside hitter Aubrey Mitchell, echoed her teammate’s comments.

“We need to mentally think [about] not letting the [opponent] come back and get another point, stopping [their run] at one point, then getting back into our normal rhythm,” Mitchell said.

Schlatter, alongside Mitchell and Corrado, led the team offensively on Saturday, as Schlatter posted the best all-around performance, boasting seven kills, 27 assists, nine digs and three service aces. Junior outside hitter Megan Ellis also had a successful evening with 16 digs, seven kills, three assists and a service ace.

The Vikings are back in action on Friday when they travel to face Sacramento State. The match is set for 7 p.m. and can be viewed at GoViks.com. Make sure to check out post-game interviews from Saturday night at PSUVanguard.com.