Hosting Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado for their final home games of the season, the Portland State women’s volleyball team (19-7, 13-2 Big Sky) played as close to perfect as possible Friday and Saturday. The Vikings claimed their second regular season championship in three years in decisive wins over the Lumberjacks and Bears.
Playing Northern Arizona (8-16, 5-10 Big Sky) first and grasping onto the top spot in the conference, the Vikings took on a Lumberjacks team Friday night that played tougher than their record indicated. Northern Arizona is a young and athletic team with a roster that boasts 11 freshmen and sophomores.
On a night where the graduating Portland State players were honored before the match, it was only fitting that seniors Nique Fradella, Erica Jepsen and Marija Vojnovic played their hearts out. Combining for 28 kills on .349 hitting, the Vikings rode the outstanding play of the seniors to an easy victory at the Stott.
“I thought it was huge that the seniors were able to contribute like they did,” said head coach Michael Seemann. “Nique did a great job of getting the team into a rhythm, and Erica and Marija were fantastic as well.”
Despite falling behind early in the first set 4-0, Portland State pulled ahead midway through the match and never looked back. The Vikings steamrolled a Lumberjacks team that had no response to Portland State’s increasingly efficient offense, winning in three straight sets and putting together their seventh straight-set sweep.
The Vikings combined to hit .285 on the night and used Friday as a tune-up for their pivotal matchup against Northern Colorado (18-11, 11-4 Big Sky) on Saturday. With a loss to the Bears early in the season, Portland State entered Saturday’s matchup with revenge on their minds.
With the Big Sky Championship on the line, Portland State entered Saturday night with a chip on their shoulders. Though the Bears took an early lead in the first set, the Vikings regrouped and played with a sense of urgency to grab the win 26-24.
“We felt like we created a lot of opportunities with our serving, but we didn’t convert them,” Seemann said. “We did a better job in the second half of that first set of taking advantage of free balls and one-on-one situations and terminating them.”
After pulling the rug out from underneath Northern Colorado’s feet in the first set, Portland State turned up the pressure. In the next set they cruised to an easy 25-15 victory. Leading by as much as 12, the Vikings played like a playoff team and set the tone for the rest of the match.
“I feel like its just all coming together at the right time,” said Jepsen. “This is the perfect time for our whole team to come together.”
At full steam in the final set, outside hitter Whitney Phillips finished off what was left of the Bears and pieced together their eighth straight sweep of the season. After hitting only .190 in the first two sets, Phillips hit .461 in the final stanza. Her six kills in the set raised her total to 15 on the night.
After the game, Jepsen put the feeling of the win best, “It’s amazing. Every conference championship is amazing…I feel like this team has a better shot [at winning the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament], just because we have been together for one more year.”
With one game remaining in the season at Sacramento State on Friday, the Vikings have already locked up the Big Sky regular season championship. However, in order to get to the NCAA Tournament Portland State will also need to win the Big Sky Tournament hosted by Eastern Washington in Cheney, Wash., Nov. 27–28.