Click here to view the complete weekly release (PDF)

Match No. 24
Portland State (15-8, 10-2 Big Sky) at Eastern Washington (7-15, 6-6 Big Sky)
Saturday, Nov. 6  •  7 p.m.
Cheney, WA  •  Reese Court
All-time Series: EWU leads 26-21
Big Sky Series: EWU leads 23-6
In Cheney: EWU leads 14-5
Streak: PSU 4

THIS WEEK: The Portland State volleyball squad heads to Eastern Washington this Saturday, seeking its second ever Big Sky win at Reese Court. Last year, the Viks downed EWU, 3-1, in Cheney, claiming their first win there since joining the conference in 1996 and also their first win there since 1985.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE VIKS THIS WEEK: This weekend's match will feature live audio and video streaming through Big Sky TV as well as live stats. Links for both can be found on GoViks.com under the LIVE EVENTS tab.

THE WEEK THAT WAS IN PSU VOLLEYBALL: The Vikings knocked off Montana and Montana State last weekend by identical 3-1 scores to run their Big Sky home winning streak to 15. On Friday, Whitney Phillips had 21 kills and 14 digs, and Garyn Schlatter fell one dig shy of a triple-double to pace PSU to its 13th-straight win over the Grizzlies. On Saturday, the Viks fought past a pesky MSU squad, getting 12 kills from Lana Zielke and a career-high 11 from Kaeli Patton. It was the Vikings' 12th-straight win over the Bobcats.

SCHLATTER NAMED BIG SKY PLAYER OF THE WEEK, AGAIN: For the second time in three weeks, Garyn Schlatter has been named the Big Sky Conference Volleyball Player of the Week it was announced today (Nov. 1) by the league office. A redshirt freshman setter out of Canby, Ore., Schlatter helped the Vikings to a pair of four-set home victories over Montana and Montana State this past weekend, posting double-doubles in both matches. Schlatter averaged 8.25 assists, 2.50 digs, 2.00 kills and 0.75 blocks per set while hitting .256 in the two contests. Against Montana on Friday night, Schlatter fell one dig shy of her second triple-double, posting 32 assists, 11 kills and nine digs. She matched her career-high in kills while adding two blocks and hitting .333. Schlatter followed that up with a 34-assist, 11-dig performance vs. Montana State on Saturday. She also added five kills and four blocks as Portland State ran its Big Sky home winning streak to 15.

PORTLAND STATE – EASTERN WASHINGTON SERIES NOTES: Despite the fact that Portland State has won fourstraight over Eastern Washington, the Eagles continue to lead the all-time series 26-21 and the Big Sky series 23-6. All six of Portland State's conference wins have come since 2005 (five at home, one at EWU). The Vikings have won four in a row in the series for the first time since they won 12 in a row from 1979-1987. Last year, PSU swept the season series from the Eagles for the first time since 1985, when both schools were in the Mountain West Conference. The Vikings claimed a 3-1 win in Cheney, giving them their first victory at Reese Court since 1985 and their first since joining the Big Sky in 1996. PSU is now 5-14 all-time in Cheney. Earlier this season, the Viks swept Eastern Washington at the Stott Center (25-15, 25-14, 25-16), hitting .396 in the process.

THE BIG SKY TITLE RACE: With three weekends of play left in the regular season, it appears to be a two-team race for the conference title. At 10-1, Northern Colorado has a one-half game lead over PSU (10-2). The Vikings knocked off UNC in Portland on Oct. 15, but have to play in Greeley on Nov. 13. PSU has four matches left, including three on the road, while UNC has five contests remaining, two at home and three on the road. The top four teams in the final regular season standings will advance to the Big Sky Championship, Nov. 26-27, at the Stott Center. Montana (6-4), Idaho State (6-6), Eastern Washington (6-6) and Sacramento State (5-5) are battling it out for the final two spots.

THE BIGGEST IN THE SKY: With their victory over Montana State on Saturday, Portland State reached the 10-win barrier in Big Sky play for the sixth-straight season. The only other program to do it in each of the past five years (2005-09) is Eastern Washington, and the Eagles are in jeopardy of seeing their streak come to an end as they are 6-6 this season. Since 2005, PSU is a conference-best 72-18 in Big Sky matches, followed by EWU at 62-28.

ZIELKE'S RECORD BOOK: On Saturday against Montana State, senior MB Lana Zielke hit .632 (12-0-19) to tally the third-best hitting percentage in a four-set match in PSU history. She replaced Kristi Scott, who hit .611 way back on Oct. 4, 1991. Zielke also is tied for third for the best percentage in a three-set match. She hit .750 at Idaho State last year, which is alslo the third-best mark ever at PSU. Zielke is the only player in PSU history that ranks in the top three for hitting percentage in a match more than once.

GAINING MOMENTUM: After starting the year out slowly by losing six of their first nine matches, the Vikings have bounced back with a 12-2 record. Over that span, PSU is outhitting the opposition .257-.157, and has posted a 1.61 saps average. That compares to just a .199 hitting percentage and 1.18 saps average during their first nine matches when they were 3-6.

HOT HITTERS: PSU entered their match at Idaho State on Oct. 22 having outhit their opponents in 11-straight matches. That came to an end against the Bengals, but the Viks have still come out on top in the hitting percentage battle in 14 of the past 15 contests. Portland State is hitting .252 over that span and has hit over .300 three times, including a season-best .432 against Seattle on Oct. 7.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Vikings close out the regular season by playing three of their final four matches away from the Stott Center. The road has been kind to PSU in Big Sky play the past four seasons as they have gone 25-12 since 2006. The Viks went 6-2 in 2006 and 2009, and 5-3 in 2007 and 2008. This year they are 3-2 in conference road matches. On the flip side, PSU's next three matches all are on the road against teams they have historically struggled against. The Viks have a combined 8-24 Big Sky road mark at Eastern Washington (1-13), Northern Arizona (5-9) and Northern Colorado (2-2) since 1996.

A STINGY DEFENSE: Over the past five-plus seasons, the Vikings have allowed an opponent to go over the .300 mark just 12 times in 166 matches, or .07 percent of the time. Four teams did it in 2005, two in 2006 and then one in each of the next three seasons. This year, three teams have surpassed that barrier, including Idaho State hitting .357 on Oct. 23. It had been over five years since the Viks had allowed a team to hit .350 or better, with Centenary College being the last to do so on Sept. 16, 2005, when they hit .379.

SEEING DOUBLE: Portland State players have tallied 31 double-doubles on the season, the most in the Big Sky. Whitney Phillips leads the team with 13, Garyn Schlatter has 10, Alexa Rosendale and Dominika Kristinikova both have three, and Megan Ellis has two. PSU's five players with at least one double-double is the most of any conference team.

FRESHMEN RULE THE WEEKEND: A pair of freshmen played key roles in the Vikings' two victories last weekend as Aubrey Mitchell and Kaeli Patton both posted career-highs in kills. On Friday against Montana, Mitchell tallied 10 kills and hit .533. The lefty from Reno followed that up with eight kills and a .538 hitting mark on Saturday vs. MSU. Patton added 11 kills in the match. For the weekend, Mitchell averaged 3.00 kps and hit .536.

GETTING DEFENSIVE: Portland State has led the Big Sky in opponent hitting percentage in each of the past three seasons, but so far this year they have yet to hold the top spot in the conference rankings. They have slowly moved up, though, and continue to rank third (.184). However, in conference-only matches, PSU ranks second (.158). The Vikings started to turn the corner at San Jose State on Sept. 10 and over the past 15 matches they have held their opponents to a combined .159 hitting mark, while outblocking them 2.39-1.63. PSU has also averaged 15.75 dps over that span, while their 15 opponents have averaged 13.96 dps.

SERVING UP ACES: The Vikings sit atop the Big Sky rankings in service aces in conference only matches, averaging 1.58 per set, and also are second overall, averaging 1.43 per set. Over the past eight matches, PSU is averaging 1.69 saps. After tallying a career-best six aces against NAU on Oct. 16, all of which came in set one, Whitney Phillips took over the lead in service aces per set in both the overall rankings and conference-only rankings and continues to hold down the top spot. Phillips has registered 27 of her 36 aces over the past 12 matches, averaging 0.64 saps over that span.

A NEAR LOCK FOR DOUBLE-DIGITS: Since arriving at PSU in the fall of 2009, Whitney Phillips had been a near lock for double-digits in kills. The senior outside hitter has tallied at least 10 kills in 50 of 52 matches, an impressive feat. On Sept. 3 against No. 9 Washington, Phillips had just six kills. The other time she failed to reach double-digits was on Oct. 7, 2009, when PSU swept Seattle. In that match, Phillips took a season-low 26 swings and came away with eight kills.

REACHING THE 20-KILL MARK: Not only has Whitney Phillips been a near lock for double-digits, but she has also posted at least twenty kills 22 times in her one-plus seasons on the Park Blocks. In 2009, Phillips reached that barrier 10 times, and so far this year she has done it in 12 matches. Phillips has a career-high of 32, set against Seattle in the 2010 season opener on Aug. 27, after putting up a season-high of 28 in 2009. She currently has three of the top five kills performances this year in the Big Sky and also holds the top five spots for kills in a three-set match and the top two spots for kills in a four-set match.

AMONG THE NATIONS BEST: Whitney Phillips has ranked in the top 10 nationally in kills and points per set in both 2009 and 2010. This year, Phillips is fifth in kills (5.03) and points (5.66), after finishing last season ranked fifth and sixth, respectively. She also is ranked 26th in service aces per set (0.41), while Lana Zielke is 89th in hitting percentage (.339) and 90th in blocks per set (1.11).