Bye, bye birdie

Riding the superb play of senior outside hitter Whitney Phillips, who had her best performance as a Viking on Friday, the Portland State women’s volleyball team demonstrated why they should be considered the top-ranked team in the Big Sky Conference this year.

“I thought we came out and executed our game plan well,” Phillips said. “We put in three hard days of practice, and it showed.”

Walking into the arena before tip-off, it was easy to see the determination on the faces of every player on the court. Despite losing to Portland State earlier in the season on their home court, the Eagles looked as ready as ever to go to battle with the Viks.

With each and every set going right down to the wire, the Vikings (17-7, 11-2 Big Sky) willed themselves past Eastern Washington with three consecutive set victories (26-24, 25-21, 25-22) to sweep the Eagles (18-9, 11-2 Big Sky) in convincing fashion at the Stott Center.

“It was a great win,” said senior middle blocker Erica Jepsen. “I think we played even better than we did last time, so that’s a good step for us going into the conference tournament, possibly having to see [Eastern Washington] again.”

Seemingly finding the weaknesses in the defense every time she hit the ball, Phillips was virtually on fire Friday night, with 25 kills on .477 hitting. With both teams nearly even in almost every statistical category, the difference in the match came down to who could hit with more efficiency.

Portland State also did an outstanding job shutting down Eastern Washington’s best player, and last year’s Big Sky Player of the Year, Hayley Hills. Hitting just .088 on the night, Hills was held to one of her worst performances of the year and never seemed comfortable.

Winning out in the first set, 26-24, Portland State fell behind quickly, 4-1, early on in the second. Regrouping and showing no signs of panic, the Vikings inched their way back into the game until they were tied at 6-all and eventually won the match, 25-21.

Determined not to go down without a fight, the Eagles jumped to an early lead again in the third set on a kill and a block by Hills. Playing like the veteran team they are, the Vikings crawled their way back into the set and won, 25-22.

“I’m extremely proud of our effort tonight,” said head coach Michael Seemann. “I thought we did a great job at staying balanced on both sides of the ball.”

Adding even more importance to the night, Northern Colorado won both of their conferences games to tie with Portland State for first place. Despite the big win against Eastern Washington, the Vikings have yet to beat the Bears this season, having lost to them earlier this year.

With Portland State still in the driver’s seat, they will lock up the conference regular season championship this week with a win against Northern Colorado. No matter what obstacles they face in the near future, the win against Eastern Washington will keep them hungry.