Volleyball hosts Bears and Lumberjacks

After shutting out Eastern Washington last weekend, the Portland State women’s volleyball team is set to perform before a Stott Center crowd again this weekend as the Viks wrap up a four-game home stand.

The Vikings open the weekend hosting the top-ranked Northern Colorado Bears at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Stott, and then they welcome Northern Arizona at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

A look at the Vikings

Portland State (10-7, 5-1 Big Sky) currently holds the second position in the Big Sky standings. The team easily won both of its games last week with matching three-set sweeps. The Vikings beat non-conference Seattle 3-0 on Thursday, and then similarly shut out Eastern Washington in the first of the season’s two Dam Cup matches with the Eagles. Portland State combined to hit .414 over last week’s two matches.

The Vikings saw a slow start to this season, winning just three of their first nine matches. But since then, they have come into their own and won seven of their last eight, with five of those coming from the sweep.

An early-October meeting with Sacramento State on the road snapped Portland State’s five-game winning streak, but with two straight wins now behind them, the Viks looks to expand on their current hot streak.

After the cool start to the season, which included matching 3-2 losses at home to Pac-10 schools Oregon State and No. 19 Oregon, Portland State has been on a tear as of late, outhitting their last nine opponents.

Player-wise, outside hitter Whitney Phillips is among the top 10 in the nation in both kills and points. She ranks sixth in kills with an average of 4.95 per set, and eighth in points with a 5.51 per-set average. After Saturday’s win over Eastern Washington, senior Phillips said that defense would be the biggest focus for this weekend’s play.

Senior Diana Villalpando had to make a quick transition to the libero position from her regular defensive specialist spot. On Sept. 7 against Oregon, then-starting libero Nicole Bateham came out of the match with an injury, and Villalpando stepped in. Since then, Villalpando has led the Viks in digs eight times over the past 11 matches.

On offense, it is a freshman setter Garyn Schlatter who is heating up.  After a switch back to the 5-1 offense from the early-season experiment with the 6-2, Schlatter has recorded six double-doubles, and averaged 8.9 assists.  Against Seattle last week, the redshirt freshman served a career-high four aces.

For this weekend, senior middle blocker/outside hitter Christie Hamilton said calm serving would be a point of focus.

“In the first match (against Eastern Washington) we missed a few serves early on,” she said. “So if we can keep our serving strong, hopefully everything else will follow.”   

A look at the Bears

First-place Northern Colorado (15-4, 6-0 Big Sky) has yet to lose a conference match coming into this weekend. The Bears are coming off of a three-game winning streak, and just beat both Montana and Montana State at home last weekend. Earlier last week they swept Northern Arizona also at home.

The Bears swept Montana State on Thursday, managing to hold the Bobcats to just a .098 hitting percentage, while the Bears recorded .330 hitting. Following that, the Bears took the Montana Grizzlies to four sets for a win. The first two ended in close finishes, with the Bears taking the first by five points and losing the second by two, before easily taking the remaining two sets.

Last week, Northern Colorado’s sophomore outside hitter Kelley Arnold was chosen for Big Sky Player of the Week. Facing the two Montana schools, Arnold led the team to victories in each with a .414 hitting percentage, 20 digs and six assists over the weekend.

The matchup against PSU will be the Bears’ first time on the road since Sept. 18.

A look at the Lumberjacks

Northern Arizona (7-9, 3-3 Big Sky) split last weekend’s matches against the Montanas. They fell to Montana on Thursday in a nail-biting five-game match on their home court with a 15-12 loss in the final set. Saturday was a different story though, and the Lumberjacks turned around to sweep Montana State.

Saturdays meeting with the Bobcats gave the Lumberjacks their best hitting percentage of the season (.333). It was freshman middle blocker Niki Small who led the Jacks to their victory with a match-high 11 kills and just one attack error.  Her .526 hitting percentage was the second best of her career.

In that same game, sophomore setter/outside hitter Kelli Dallmann posted her second consecutive double-double of the season with 41 assists and 13 digs. Dallmann had posted 50 assists and 16 digs against the Lady Griz on Thursday. 

Past matchups

Portland State and Northern Colorado have tournament history together. The Bears defeated the regular season champion Vikings, 3-1, in the Big Sky Tournament last season, ending Portland State’s season. Prior to the tournament, the two teams split the regular season series. At the Stott Center, Portland State has a 5-1 record against Northern Colorado, and PSU leads the overall series 13-5.

Northern Arizona leads Portland State 15-13 overall, but the Viks have managed to beat the Lumberjacks in every meeting in the Park Blocks since 2003. Portland State has also defeated NAU in the past 11 matchups.

How to follow

Both games this weekend will be held at the Stott Center. Friday’s match is slated to begin at 7 p.m. and Saturday’s is scheduled for 8 p.m. Both games will be streamed online through Big Sky TV and can be followed via live stats. Visit www.goviks.com for links to both. ?