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PORTLAND – The Portland State volleyball team took down Boise State in straight sets in the finale of the Northwest Challenge Saturday night at the Peter W. Stott Center. Junior OH Cheyne Corrado led the way with 14 kills for the Vikings while hitting a career-high .480.

The Vikings (2-1 overall) came out firing on all cylinders and jumped out to a quick 10-3 advantage. Corrado came up with back-to-back kills later in the set to give the Vikings a 15-8 lead. The set went back and forth with both teams trading attacking errors. Corrado came up again with a big kill to give the Vikings a five-point lead at 18-13.

Redshirt freshman Shelbi Miyashiro, making her Portland State debut, came in to serve with the Vikings up 20-15. With the help of a couple Boise State attacking errors and two more Corrado kills, Miyashiro served out the set for the Vikings as they won it 25-15.

"We certainly came out to win in that first set," head coach Michael Seemann said following the win. "We knew what we wanted to do against them and we did a good job of being opportunistic when they gave us some easy opportunities."

Corrado's hot start propelled the Vikings to the first set victory. She connected on eight of her first 10 attacks with no errors. She also added a service ace and a blocking assist. Three other Vikings had a pair of kills to account for the team's 12 first-set kills.

"After our performance this morning (against Washington) we came out a lot stronger knowing that we couldn't take anything for granted," Corrado said. "It was really good to come out strong in that first set. Everyone played very connected.  It showed a lot of character for us to show that we wouldn't let a game like earlier get to us."

Portland State took a much closer second set 27-25 to go up two sets to none. Neither team built up much of a lead early in the second set. Boise State (1-2) took a five-point lead at 12-7 forcing the Vikings to call a timeout. Three-straight PSU kills following the timeout brought the Vikings to within two at 12-10. They eventually tied the set at 14-14. The set stayed within one point until the Vikings took a 23-21 lead with a Leigh-Ann Haataja kill.

Boise State tied up the set at 23-23 with two straight kills. The Vikings had their first set point at 24-23 but the Broncos would not give up, tying the set again. BSU then went up by a point and was serving for the set but hit it straight into the net tying the match again, this time at 25-25. Brigid Campbell checked in to serve and gave the Vikings what they needed. Katie O'Brien came up with a big kill to go up one at 26-25 before an attacking error by the Broncos gave the Vikings the set. 

"In that second set we played pretty tight even when we were doing well," Seemann said. "It was really good to see them come out a lot looser in that third set."

The Vikings came out looser in the third and it definitely showed on the court. Down 7-6 early, five straight kills, three by Haataja, gave the Vikings an 11-7 lead and they never looked back. The closest the Broncos came was at 14-11 but the Vikings quickly went on a 5-1 run to build a 19-12 lead. The Vikings were up 24-16 when Boise State served into the net ending their comeback chances.

With the three-set win, the Vikings finished the Northwest Challenge with a 2-1 record. It was the first time they came out above .500 for the tournament since going 2-1 in 2009. The Vikings won the Big Sky regular season championship that year and finished 21-8 overall.

Corrado finished the match with 14 kills and a career-best .480 (14-2-25) hitting percentage. Kaeli Patton finished with 12 kills and hit .308 (12-4-26). As a team, the Vikings hit .321 (47-13-106) and held Boise State to just .127 (29-16-102) hitting.

The Vikings continue to block well at the net recording 7.0 blocks Saturday night. Katie O'Brien racked up a season-high six blocks while Garyn Schlatter tallied three. As a team the Vikings are averaging 2.4 blocks per set.

Portland State will have a quick turnaround as they head down to Eugene, Ore. to face the University of Oregon Tuesday, Sept. 3 at the Matthew Knight Arena. The 6 p.m. PT match can be seen live on the Pac-12 Network. 

NOTES: Shelbi Miyashiro made her Portland State debut serving in the first set … Valerie Hughes made her first career start … Cheyne Corrado made her first start of the season … Corrado recorded a season-high 14 kills and a career-high .480 hitting percentage.