Complete Release in PDF Format | Bankers Classic Tournament Page

The Upcoming Week
Portland State heads to Stockton, Calif., for the 34th Annual Bankers Classic hosted by the University of the Pacific Aug. 31-Sept. 1. The Vikings will square-off with the Tigers to open the weekend at 7 p.m. Friday night. They will then take on Northern Illinois and Nevada the following day.

Weekend Schedule
at Pacific, Friday (8/31) at 7:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Video
vs. Northern Illinois, Saturday (9/1) at 10:00 a.m. | Live Stats | Live Video
vs. Nevada, Saturday (9/1) at 5:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Video

Media
All three matches this weekend will feature live stats as well as live video. Links for both can be found on the Bankers Classic tournament page at PacificTigers.com. They can also be found by visiting GoViks.com and clicking on the LIVE EVENTS tab or by visiting the women's volleyball schedule page.

Last Weekend
The Vikings went 1-2 over the opening weekend of the 2012 season at the Northwest Classic. PSU dropped the opening match in five sets to Gonzaga, 3-2, despite 20-20 performances from senior OH Megan Ellis and junior transfer OH Jaklyn Wheeler. The Vikings went to five-sets again in the second match of the season but came out victorious against Boise State thanks to Wheeler's career-high 24 kills. Portland State dropped the tournament finale to No. 14 Washington in straight sets. Junior S Garyn Schlatter averaged 11.08 assists per set on the weekend. Wheeler tallied 51 kills (3.92 kps) en route to being named to the all-tournament team.

Home Opener
Following this weekend in California, the Vikings will open their home schedule with a non-conference match with UC Santa Barbara at the Peter W. Stott Center. Start time for the match is slated for 7 p.m.

Tickets
Single match tickets for the 2012 Volleyball season can be purchased at the door starting one hour prior to match time. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for youth (17 and under).

Against the Field
The Vikings are 5-3 all-time against the field at the Bankers Classic. PSU is an even 2-2 against Pacific and 3-1 against Nevada. It will be the first ever meeting between Portland State and Northern Illinois.

Scouting Pacific
Host team Pacific comes into the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record after sweeping competition at the Idaho Nike Invitational. The Tigers defeated Idaho in five sets before sweeping Washington State. They then took the tournament finale from Montana in five sets. Pacific averages 12.46 kills per set while hitting .190. Senior MB Gabby Cowden leads the team with 45 kills (3.46 kps) while junior OH Megan Birch has 43 kills (3.31 kps). Senior S Hannah Clancey leads the team with 124 assists (9.54 aps). The Tigers have held their opponents to just .115 hitting while recording 19 digs per set and 2.08 blocks per set.

Series with Pacific
The Vikings and Tigers have split the all-time series with each team picking up a pair of wins. PSU took the first match of the series, 3-1, in 1981. Pacific swept Portland State in 1989. The two teams did not meet again for 17 years before the Vikings won in four sets in 2006. Pacific took the five-set marathon match a year later.

Scouting Northern Illinois
Northern Illinois opened the season by going 1-2 at their own NIU Invitational with a win over North Dakota State and losses to Wichita State and New Mexico State. They then defeated Green Bay this past Tuesday to even their record at 2-2. MacKenzie Roddy leads the Huskies in kills with 63 over the first 18 sets (3.50 kps). Alexis Gonzales leads the team in assists, accounting for 174 of the teams' 201 total assists. Sara Angelos (13) and Mary Kurisch (12) lead the squad in total blocks with Kurisch racking up eight solo blocks over the first four matches.

Series with Northern Illinois
Saturday's match marks the first between the two schools.

Scouting Nevada
Nevada took its first match of the season in five sets  over Tulane to start the season. The Wolfpack then lost the next two matches in four sets to Baylor and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Nevada is hitting just .156 on the season. The Wolfpack have a total of 146 with Tessa Lea'ea leading the way with 45 (3.46 kps). Lea'ea has also added 23 blocks on the season (3-20). Dana Holt has recorded 107 of the teams 130 assists to start the season.

Series with Nevada
PSU leads the all-time series with Nevada three matches to one. The Vikings took the first two matches in 1981 and 1982. Nevada took a three-set affair in 1986. After a 23 year series gap, the two teams met again in 2009 with the Vikings winning in four sets.

Making and Impact
Junior OH Jaklyn Wheeler made her first appearance for the Vikings at the Northwest Classic and immediately made her presence known. She opened the season with a 21 kill, 20 dig performance against Gonzaga (9/24) while adding a service ace and an assisted block in the match. She backed that performance up with another double-double by recording a career-high 24 kills and 17 digs against Boise State (8/25) propelling the Vikings to their first win of the season. She hit a season-best .317 against Boise State. In the final match of the Northwest Classic she added six kills and five digs in a three-set loss to No. 14 Washington. On the weekend, she tallied 51 kill, 42 digs, and recorded a hitting percentage of .285 en route to being named to the Northwest Classic All-Tournament team.

Commanding the Floor
Junior S Garyn Schlatter has embraced her role as the on-court leader. She opened the season with a career-best 62 assists against Gonzaga (8/24) while adding 10 digs for her first double-double of the season. She added another 53 digs in the Vikings first win of the season against Boise State (8/25). Another 26 assists against No. 14 Washington totaled 144 for the weekend (11.08 aps). Her assist total and assist per set average ranks her second in the Big Sky Conference.

Outside Tandem
Portland State leads the Big Sky Conference in kills with a total of 166 and is fifth in kills per set (12.77). With the addition of OH Jaklyn Wheeler, the Vikings have the best one-two punch in the conference. Wheeler, added with OH Megan Ellis account for 96 kills which is the most by a tandem this season. Both are top 10 in the conference in kills per set. Northern Colorado is the only other team in the conference with two players in the top 10.

Across the Sky
Northern Arizona (3-0) and Northern Colorado (3-0) were the only teams in the conference to come out of the opening weekend of the season undefeated.  Montana State is the only other team with a winning record at 2-1. Five teams, including the Vikings, are 1-2 on the season with Montana and Southern Utah posting 0-3 records. After opening the season 0-4, Eastern Washington Head Coach Miles Kydd resigned his post for personal reasons.