Box Score (PDF)  |  Box Score (HTML)

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Whitney Phillips had 28 kills and Portland State hit .304 as the Vikings opened up Big Sky Conference action with a 3-1 victory at Montana State on Friday night.

Set scores were 24-26, 25-13, 25-18, 25-15.

The Vikings (5-6, 1-0 Big Sky) entered the evening having won 10 straight over Montana State, including six in a row via the sweep. But the Bobcats opened Friday's match on fire and held a convincing 17-9 lead in set one after a kill by Rachelle Allen.

PSU rallied, though, with six straight points to get within 17-15. Montana State later took a 23-19 lead on a kill by Alex Penewell, only to see the Vikings tie it up. Phillips hammered home back-to-back aces, then Diana Villalpando served up an ace, before another Phillips kill capped a 4-0 run. The Bobcats eventually took the set, breaking away from a 24-24 score on two kills by Allen.

The rest of the match was a different story, with the Vikings wasting little time gaining the momentum back in set two. Five straight attack errors by Montana State in the set gave PSU a 13-3 advantage and the Bobcats never seriously threatened the rest of the night.

After allowing Montana State to hit .282 in the first frame, the Vikings limited them to a .038 percentage the rest of the way.

On the other hand, PSU had one of its better hitting performances of the season. The Vikings were over the .300 mark in each of the first three sets and their final .304 percentage was their second-highest of the year.

Phillips turned in another masterful performance, hitting .500 and digging 10 balls to go along with her 28 kills. It was her team-leading sixth double-double of the season.

Redshirt freshman setter Garyn Schlatter registered her fourth double-double, dishing out 41 assists and tallying a team-high 16 digs.

Portland State also got nine kills from Christie Hamilton, six from Kaeli Patton, 12 digs from Diana Villalpando and seven blocks from Cara Olden.

For the Bobcats (5-6, 0-1 Big Sky), Allen finished with 13 kills and 10 digs, Chelsea Oemcke registered 11 kills and Meghan Albiston led all players with 18 digs.

The Vikings play again tomorrow night at Montana. First serve is set for 6 p.m. PT.

NOTES: Patton matched her career-high for kills and set a new best with six digs, while Olden matched hers for blocks ... Phillips' .500 attack percentage is a new season-high by a Viking ... PSU outblocked the Bobcats, 12.0-2.0. Lana Zielke chipped in five, and Hamilton and Schlatter both had three ... the Vikings have tallied 12 blocks in three straight matches ... Dominika Kristinikova recorded 10 digs for the Viks ... PSU never trailed in sets two or four.