Churnin’ em’ out

Puttin’ a whuppin’ on Seattle University, Portland State women’s volleyball embarrassed the Redhawks on their home court with a three-set sweep on Wednesday night. Despite a poor offensive showing, the Vikings were able to ride the effective play of junior Lana Zielke to add another win and bring their record to 10-6.

On a night where Portland State only hit .168 as a team, they received big contributions on defense from senior outside hitter Marija Vojnovic and sophomore defensive specialist Nicole Bateham, who combined for 31 digs. In a match that was mostly a warm up before taking on Eastern Washington tonight, the Vikings built early leads with blocks and timely kills.

“Seattle is a solid program,” said head coach Michael Seemann. “They have had some good matches against some solid teams.”

With only a few lead changes early in each set, the Vikings pulled away quickly every time and never looked back all night, finishing with set scores of 25-19, 25-23, 25-19. Even with the team’s subpar hitting, Nique Fradella continued her streak of 30-plus assists a match and has strung together 10 in a row thus far.

“I thought it was a steady road performance,” coach Seemann said. “We had solid performance from the middles. [The match was] not concrete, or pretty, but it’s good for on the road.”

Also getting strong contributions from junior outside hitter Whitney Phillips and senior middle blocker Erica Jepsen, Portland State gave a strong performance on the road right before traveling to Cheney, Wash. for a pivotal game against conference-leading Eastern Washington.

Looking ahead to tonight’s game against the Eagles, the Vikings will have their hands full in a match that will decide the early favorite to win the Big Sky Conference, as well as the coveted No. 1 bid in the postseason tournament.

“They have weapons all over the place,” Seemann said. “They’re big, they’re physical, they handle the ball, [and] they serve tough…certainly in their own gym.”

The Eagles have talent all across the board including at outside hitter with junior Hayley Hills, last year’s Big Sky Player of the Year. Having never beaten them on the road since joining the conference in 1996, the Vikings will be confronted with a challenge that is equal parts mental and physical.

“Hayley Hills is their outside hitter,” Seemann said. “She puts a lot of points on the board. She’s a lot like our Whitney Phillips.”

In what will be a game full of great matchups, none will be more important than that of 6-foot-3-inch Lana Ziekle and 6-foot-5-inch Sara Todorovich. Controlling the middle of the net will be a determining factor in this match and whichever team can utilize it effectively will have a huge advantage.

One bit of history that does favor Portland State in the matchup against Eastern Washington is their victory in the last meeting of the two squads. After losing last year’s regular season title they were favored to win to the Eagles, the Vikings got their revenge in the Big Sky Championship game that brought them to the NCAA tournament.

“We haven’t won there yet since going Division I,” coach Seemann said. “We would like to go up there and play well.”

In what should turn out to be a great match no matter the outcome, both teams have ample reason to be motivated.

The Portland State women’s volleyball team faces Eastern Washington tonight. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. and can be seen on www.bigskytv.org.

Team Stats
                              Portland State    Seattle University
                              (10-6)                                    (5-15)
Attack
Percentage:            .168                                    .070
Kills:                         40                                      31
Defensive digs:        56                                     38
Service aces:            4                                       4
Service errors:          2                                       8
Total blocks:             10                                    11.5