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PORTLAND – Junior outside hitter Cheyne Corrado posted a season-high 16 kills to lead Portland State to a Dam Cup victory over Eastern Washington Monday night at the Peter W. Stott Center. The Vikings took the match by scores of 25-17, 25-19, and 25-15.

"We knew Eastern Washington was deep and we knew that they would make a lot of adjustments," head coach Michael Seemann said following the win. "We just charged our team to be the ones that stayed steady. We needed to stay as steady as possible regardless of what they were doing on the other side of the net."

Corrado's 16 kills was one shy of her career mark. She added 11 digs in the match for her second double-double of the season, fifth of her career. Corrado hit .407 for the match connecting on 16 of her 27 attacks while committing five errors.

"Cheyne (Corrado) is deceiving as a hitter," Seemann added. "She manufactures kills. I was really pleased with her swings tonight, especially out of the back row. I thought her shot selection was great tonight."

Senior Aubrey Mitchell added seven kills for the Vikings while Leigh-Ann Haataja and Jaklyn Wheeler each posted six apiece. Garyn Schlatter tallied 31 assists in the match.

Kasimira "Kasi" Clark came into the match with 997 career digs. She surpassed the 1,000-career dig mark early in the first set against the Eagles. She then moved past Diana Villalpando for fourth on Portland State's Division I career digs list. Clark now has 1,008 career digs. 

Eastern Washington (4-9 overall, 1-1 Big Sky Conference) took the lead early in the first set with a couple of quick aces to go up 3-0. After the shaky start, Portland State (5-7, 2-0) settled down and got into a rhythm going on a 5-0 run to take a 7-4 lead. Once the Vikings took the lead they did not give it back.

Portland State built up a seven-point lead at 16-9 before Eastern Washington went on a run of its own to bring the set to within one at 17-16. The Vikings went on a 7-0 run to bring it to set point at 24-16. Eastern Washington broke one set point before Haataja's fifth kill of the set won it for the Vikings.

The second set stayed close early with neither team able to go on a run and separate. The Vikings went up 7-5 on a quick kill from Schlatter but the Eagles came right back to tie it at 7-7. The teams continued to trade points to 11-11 before the Vikings went on a 4-0 run to go up 15-11 on a kill by Wheeler.

With the Vikings up 19-18 later in the set, they proved once again that they could close out a set finishing on a 4-0 run. Kaeli Patton finished the set with an ace that just cleared the net. The Vikings continued to serve tough through the first two sets coming up with five aces. They finished with 11 for the match, which tied their season high that they set Saturday against Sacramento State. 

The Vikings jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead before building up a 7-2 lead early in the third set. They went on a 6-1 run later in the set to go up 22-10, which included three consecutive aces from Shelbi Miyashiro. After the teams traded points, Mitchell and Cara Olden teamed up for the Vikings' eight block of the night to finish out the match.

"This win obviously gives us a lot of confidence as we continue into conference play," Corrado said following the match. "It's nice to start off at home with a crowd like we had tonight. I felt like we kept getting better as the match went on. No matter what happened we just shook it off and kept going. It felt so comfortable to play with everyone on the court, it felt really good."

The Vikings moved to 2-0 in Big Sky play with the win. They join Northern Arizona and North Dakota as the only undefeated teams in the conference. The Vikings stay home to take on the Montana schools this Friday and Saturday.

Portland State will take on Montana Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. PT before they host Montana State Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Grizzlies are 1-1 while the Bobcats are 0-2 in conference play through the first week of the season.

NOTES: Cheyne Corrado tallied a season-high 16 kills … Corrado posted her second double-double of the season (16 kills, 11 digs) … Kasimira "Kasi" Clark recorded her 1,000th career dig … Clark moved into fourth all-time at Portland State during its Division I Era (1996-present) … Clark now has 1,008 career digs … Garyn Schlatter moved into ninth all-time during the Division I era with her 105th career match played … Portland State tied its season high with 11 aces … Portland State recorded double-digit aces for the second straight match.