Vikings sweep on senior night

Portland State women’s volleyball team came up with a big 3-0 win against the Sacramento State Hornets on senior night this past Saturday, and secured the second seed in the Big Sky Tournament next weekend. The win concluded the Vikings regular season with a record of 17-12 overall and 12-4 in conference. The two teams will now face-off for a second time this week on Friday in the conference tournament semi-finals.

Senior libero Nicole Batehamwas honored before the match and ended her regular season career with the Vikings in record-breaking fashion. Bateham led the back-row defense with 28 digs—the most for a three-set Big Sky match in over three seasons.

Bateham commented on her storybook senior night: “I can’t even try and put it into words right now. It’s just an awesome feeling to have a win on our home court and to go into the tournament in second place. It’s great to have a big win against them knowing that we are going to play them again on Friday.”

Portland State came out slow to open the match, allowing the Hornets an early 5-1 lead, but after back-to-back kills from sophomore outside hitter Aubrey Mitchell and sophomore setter Garyn Schlatter, the Vikings got on the right page and took the set 25-19.

The Vikings struggled with their serving accuracy, especially early in play, as three of the Hornets’ opening 13 points were from Viking service errors. Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said this was due to an adjustment in the style of the players’ serves.

“We changed a couple of servers, in terms of where they are standings and delivering the ball from,” Seemann said. “So in that respect I think we are serving tougher because of it.”

Although the Vikings got their serving under control, the two teams closely battled for sets two and three. Sophomore outside hitter Kaeli Patton and freshman middle blocker Leigh-Ann Haataja teamed up in the second frame to make a pair of crucial kills and a key block, as the Vikings earned a 25-22 victory in the second frame.

In the third set, both teams showed their postseason-worth, going back-and-forth with 16 ties and five different lead changes. The Hornets pulled to match point at 24-23, but Patton dished out a kill and a service ace to give Vikings match-point. A final Hornet attack error ended the Vikings last regular season conquest with a 26-24 third-set win.

“We’re really excited to have this win; it is definitely a good win to build upon,” Bateham said.

On the offensive end, Ellis and Schlatter were the main weapons on the night. Both players put up double-double performances, as Ellis had 14 kills and 13 digs, while Schlatter dished out 30 assists and 11 digs.

Seemann emphasized that Ellis will be one of the key leaders for Vikings going into next week.

Seemann said of his expectations for Ellis: “First of all for her to get herself going was key, and I think when she does that the group follows. Without her being a vocal leader necessarily, she does a great job getting herself going into the matches. I think people around her then follow in suit and get the match moving forward.”

For the season, Portland State finished second to Northern Colorado not only in the standings, but in most of the overall team statistics. The Vikings are second in the conference behind the Bears in hitting percentage, assists per set, and kills per set. In blocks per set and opponent hitting percentage, the Vikings also finished second in the conference behind Sacramento State. Portland State ranks fifth and seventh, respectively, for service-ace average and average digs per set.

Bateham believes that gaining control of the momentum against Sacramento State will be key to winning their semi-final tournament match-up this upcoming weekend.

“We just need to keep improving our serving to help get them out of system and that definitely makes our job as defenders and blockers a lot easier,” Bateham said.

Portland State is set to host the Big Sky tournament next weekend by way of their 2010 regular season title. The tournament will open with this year’s regular season champions, the Northern Colorado Bears, against the number four-seeded Eastern Washington Eagles. Should the Vikings get past Sacramento State, they will face the winner of the Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington match.

Northern Colorado is the only team to beat Portland State in the Vikings’ last 10 matches. The Bears’ main offensive threat is junior outside hitter Kelley Arnold. Arnold grabbed her 12th double-double of the season in the Bears last regular season stand against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. On the defensive end, Northern Colorado boasts senior libero Amanda Arterburn,who grabbed 23 digs against the Lumberjacks, her 27th straight match with double-digit digs.

Portland State beat the Eagles on both occasions this season, and while Sacramento State was unable to beat the Vikings on senior night, they were able to hand Eastern Washington a loss on their last home match. In the 3-2 loss on Eastern Washington’s own senior night, the duo of junior outside hitters Shelby Puckett and Cora Kellerman each grabbed 17 digs for the Eagles. Kellerman leads Eastern Washington with 342 kills, while Puckets has 311 total for the season.

The 2011 Big Sky Championship gets started at 5:30 p.m., with the first semi-final match between Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington. The Viking and Hornets semi-final match is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start time. The winners of each semi-final will face each other in the championship match at 7 p.m. on Saturday.