Vikings fly higher than Eagles

Sophomore middle blocker Erica Jepsen had the match of her life, leading the Vikings (13-4, 7-0) to another home victory against Eastern Washington (6-11, 5-2) Friday night.

Relying on their trademark of solid defense and swift passing, coupled with a star performance from an unlikely hero in Jepsen, the Vikings improved their home winning streak record to 19 matches versus Big Sky opponents, sweeping the Eagles (30-20, 30-25, 30-15) in three games.

More than doubling her previous career high in kills, Jepsen ended the night with 15 kills on 19 attempts for a .789 hitting percentage. Jepsen’s performance came after a pep talk from the coaching staff earlier in the week.

“We had a sit down, and basically explained that we needed more offensive production from that position, and she obviously responded well tonight,” said head coach Michael Seemann.

Seemann attributed the success to Jepsen’s hard work throughout the week.

“She came in every day early, and stayed late. She even came in early today before the game and worked on her hitting,” Seemann said. “It definitely paid off tonight.”

Jepsen was honest when assessing her individual performance.

“That it was probably the best game of my career,” Jepsen said. “The team passed the ball real well tonight, and that made things easy for everyone else.”

Jepsen wasn’t the only Viking to enjoy a fine performance on Friday night. Sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Oney had 11 kills, sophomore outside hitter Marija Vojnovic compiled 10 kills and 14 digs, and senior middle blocker Michelle Segun ended with nine kills.

The team totaled 59 kills and maintained a .430 hitting percentage, the second best performance in school history. But it was the defense that was most responsible for the dominating performance that extended the team’s Big Sky Conference winning streak to 12 regular-season matches.

While the Vikings only recorded five blocks on the night, an active defense kept Eastern Washington’s hitting percentage to .187.

“We blocked and dug the ball well tonight, and that made it easy to control the game, and play at our pace,” Seemann said.

Playing off the large crowd, which included a boisterous (and shirtless) student section, the Vikings played each game with great energy and cohesiveness.

“It’s so fun to play in front of the crowd here, they are so enthusiastic,” Jepsen said.

It seems like lately the crowd has been playing off the energy of the Vikings squad, or perhaps vice versa.