Viks out early… Again
A promising season, highlighted by countless achievements and conference title aspirations, came to a premature end when the Portland State volleyball team fought a losing battle. Eastern Washington swept the Vikings in their Big Sky Conference semifinal match on Friday night.
For a Vikings squad that finished with the second-best conference mark in the Big Sky, the final destination was undeniably a date in Saturday night’s conference championship match. This determined Viks team wasn’t planning on settling for anything less, at least until it crossed the all-too-familiar path of the third-seeded Eagles.
”Of course this loss is a disappointment,” said head coach Jeff Mozzochi. “We felt that we had the physical ability to win the conference tournament, and we didn’t.”
In the past couple seasons, a postseason rivalry has been brewing between the Vikings and Eagles. But, like many well-known rivalries, this one has favored a single team. With the Eagles’ three-games-to-none rout of the Vikings in this season’s Big Sky tournament, Eastern Washington has bounced Portland State in a semifinal match each of the last three seasons. However, unlike past seasons, a lack of cohesive play may have led to the Viks’ demise and an early exit this year.
”We got beat by a better team. Eastern Washington just played better as a team than we did,” said Coach Mozzochi. “As the season progressed, we relied on great individual performances and didn’t really play great as a team often. But, when you rely on individuals to have great performances, they just can’t do it every night.”
While the Vikings’ abilities as a team were in question, the play of its top players left nearly nothing to question. Portland State’s stars surely made appearances during their short stay in the conference tournament. The Big Sky’s most valuable player, senior outside hitter Jessica Brodie, contributed her standard double-double, with 19 kills and 19 digs, both match highs. Brodie’s counterpart and fellow senior outside hitter, Jessica Frederick, played her way to Big Sky All-Tournament honors with 17 kills and a .438 hitting percentage. Aside from the two outstanding seniors, the rest of the Vikings were only able to muster 18 kills combined.
Although the score reads a three-game sweep for the Eagles, the match was actually a lot closer than it appears. With the exception of the first game, in which Eastern Washington claimed 26-30, the games were too close for comfort. On the verge of winning both the second and third games, the Vikings held game points six different times throughout both games. However, all hope of winning each set was erased with a kill made by Eagle standout sophomore outside hitter Atlee Webster, followed immediately by a Viking attack error. These recurring events resulted in a 32-30 outcome in game two and 34-32 winning margin in the deciding game three for the Eagles.
”When you get beat 3-0, it’s like ‘wow, we got beat badly,’ but in reality we didn’t. I think all of those games were really toss-up games. This difference was Eastern Washington made system plays as a team at the end of each of those games, and they just wanted it more than we did,” said Mozzochi.
With its conference-title dreams crushed and its automatic bid fallen by the wayside due to Eastern Washington’s superior team play, the Vikings have only an outside chance at still advancing to the NCAA Volleyball tournament. Portland State will close out their most successful season since joining the Big Sky at the Banker’s Classic in Stockton, California next weekend, and with two victories there is a possibility they could be considered for an at-large bid.
