Team continues undefeated season
MILES SANGUINETTI/VANGUARD STAFF
ON FIRE: Vikings volleyball won two more games last week, taking their record to 6–0 in conference play.
The Portland State women’s volleyball team swept Northern Arizona 3-0 last week, maintaining its perfect conference record. The team’s goal this season is to control the sets through the serve, and on Thursday the Vikings did just that. With sophomore libero Kasimira “Kasi” Clark behind the line, the Vikings used the serving to their advantage and won their opening home conference match.
Clark led the team in serving with five aces. Sophomore middle blocker Leigh-Ann Haataja slammed three aces and senior setter Dominika Kristinikova had two.
With serving as the season’s focus point, head coach Michael Seemann said the goal on Thursday was to get servers to increase their numbers in each rotation, a goal the Vikings did particularly well in achieving.
The Lumberjacks boast a strong offensive team, and they were able to come out early in the three sets, but the Vikings pushed past the Jacks on all three occasions. After a four-all tie in the opening set the Viks grabbed an 8-1 run off Haataja’s first service ace to open the gap to 12-5. Although the Lumberjacks later made an effort to close the gap at 18-17, and hold close to a 22-22 tie, the Vikings finished with the opening win 25-23.
The second and third set mirrored the first with the Lumberjacks setting early ties that the Vikings broke. The Viks completed set two 25-18, and with the help of three aces from Clark, sealed the sweep 25-16 in set three.
Junior Jaklyn Wheeler said their teamwork was key in pulling away from the early ties.
“We had some unforced errors, but everyone really stepped up,” Wheeler said. “When it is crunch time we can go.”
Wheeler led the team in kills with 19—the most by a PSU player in a three-set match. Both Wheeler and senior outside hitter Megan Ellis tallied their 11th double-doubles for the evening, with Wheeler adding 11 digs to her kills and Ellis with 10 kills and 13 digs. “The teamwork between hitters is huge,” Wheeler said.
Junior setter Garyn Schlatter helped Wheeler and Ellis control the offense while Clark commanded the defense, allowing the Vikings to control the pace of the game.
“We tried to get this team—which is very good offensively—off balance, and we were able to do that most of the night,” Seemann said.
The Vikings are now 6-0 for the season. Right now, the team’s focus is to carry that momentum into the upcoming games.
