Volleyball on the road at Eastern Washington

The women’s volleyball team is preparing for the second meeting of the season with Dam Cup rival Eastern Washington.

Eastern Washington leads 4-3 in the newly instated five-sport rivalry between the schools, but a Portland State win in the match (worth two points) will put the Viks on top by one. PSU will be away from the comfort of home, as the weekend’s sole contest is in Cheney, Wash. 

After dropping out of their first place position, the Vikings (15-8, 10-2 Big Sky) have been holding steady in second place. The team is coming off twin home wins over Montana and Montana State last weekend, and is just one-half game behind conference-leading Northern Colorado (10-1 Big Sky).

The Viks pulled off identical 3-1 victories over the visiting Montana schools. Montana grabbed the second set of the match, but PSU went on to add its 13th win over the Lady Griz.

Against Montana, the Portland State squad shared the offensive spotlight. Freshman setter Garyn Schlatter nearly recorded a triple-double with 32 assists, 11 kills, and nine digs, earning Big Sky Player of the Week honors for the second time this season.

Senior outside hitter Whitney Phillips was also on the mark, hitting over 20 kills for the fourth consecutive match. Off the bench, it was freshman outside hitter Aubrey Mitchell that was one of four players to grab double-digit kills, with a career-high 10.

Head Coach Michael Seemann said he hopes for another consistent weekend from Mitchell coming up.

“I think she just needs to be as steady as possible,” he said. “Every time she’s gone in, she provides us with a little offensive backing that sometimes we don’t get otherwise.”

It was a back-and-forth match on Saturday, but another night of steady offense across the board gave the Vikings the match. Senior middle blocker Lana Zielke and freshman outside hitter Kaeli Patton led on offense. Zielke pulled down 12 kills, and Patton a career-high 11 kills.

Seemann said that this balance of leadership will be good on the road, and he noted that it allows the players to make tougher plays.

“It gives them confidence and they are able to take some more gutsy swings at good times, and we need those things on the road,” he said.

Seemann is glad to be on the road again and said that the reduced distractions away from home will help the players focus on pulling off a second sweep of the Eagles this season.

Eastern Washington also beat out the Montanas last weekend. The victories moved the Eagles into an even 6-6 in Big Sky play. The pair of victories added to an earlier win against Idaho State made three consecutive conference wins for the Eagles.

Eastern Washington swept Montana State last Friday. The Eagles led in all the statistical categories of the night, and held the Bobcats to a .072 attack percentage, the lowest of any conference opponent against Eastern.

The Eagles beat Montana in an impressive five-set match. The Lady Griz won the first two frames, but the Eagles answered back to win the match with a season-high 73 kills. It was a milestone night for senior middle blocker Chenoa Coviare. During the match, she earned her 1,000th career kill, and ended the match with 1,011.

Coviare is not just an offensive player. She also is the fifth-leading blocker for the Eagles, with 470 in her career. Her season best was on Oct. 1 against Sac State, when she grabbed 11 blocks.

The Eagles are looking to carry their winning streak and get redemption against the Viks at their Reese Court. 

The Viks’ match-sweep of the Eagles earlier this season was an easy victory for Portland State, as the team held visiting Eastern Washington to just .125 hitting percent to their .396 percentage. The Eagles are happy to be home where, prior to a loss last season, they had not lost to PSU in 14 straight matches.

Despite four consecutive wins over Eastern Washington, the Eagles have a narrow lead over the all-time series 26-21. Last season, the Viks took both regular season victories against the Eagles. In postseason play, the Eagles lost to PSU, which dropped their chances of making it to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001.

The match is slated for 7p.m. Saturday, and can be followed via live stats or viewed on Big Sky TV. The links to both can be found at goviks.com ?