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First Serve: The Portland State Vikings (3-13 overall, 1-3 Big Sky Conference) continue their four-match home stand this week when they host the Idaho Vandals (7-9, 3-1) and the Eastern Washington Eagles (5-11, 1-3). It will be the first Big Sky Conference meeting between the Vikings and Vandals.
Live Coverage: All home matches will feature a live video stream that can be found at
WatchBigSky.com and live stats at
ViksLive.com. Links for both can also be found on the volleyball schedule page at GoViks.com.
Last Time Out: The Vikings split their first conference home weekend defeating Weber State in four sets before falling to Idaho State in straight sets at the Peter W. Stott Center. The Vikings dropped the first set against the Wildcats before taking the next three to win in four. Senior OH
Cheyne Corrado led the Vikings with 14 kills against the Wildcats while senior L
Kasimira "Kasi" Clark a match-high 20 digs. Idaho State took the second match of the week in straight sets. The Bengals outhit the Vikings .202-to-.139. Freshman OH
Roni LaPierre posted her third double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs in the loss.
The Opposition: Portland State will face a pair of Big Sky North opponents this week in Idaho and Eastern Washington. Idaho was a charter member of the Big Sky Conference but left the league following the 1995-96 season, the year prior to Portland State's arrival. The Vikings hold the all-time series lead at 13-3. PSU won the first 10 matches from 1979-1986. The teams did not meet again until 1998 at the Arizona Invitational in Tucson, Ariz. Since the series was reignited in 1998, Idaho has won three straight including the last meeting, a five-set win in Portland on Sept. 13, 2008.
Eastern Washington holds a narrow 26-25 series advantage dating back to 1980. Portland State took the first 11 meetings prior to the Vikings' entrance into the Big Sky. Portland State won 19 straight after joining the conference from 1996-2004. The Vikings are currently on another 11-match winning streak going back to the 2008 Big Sky Tournament in which the Vikings beat the Eagles in four sets to advance to their first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance.
The Vandals: Idaho enters the week 7-9 overall and 3-1 in conference play. The Vandals are second in the Big Sky North, one match behind North Dakota (4-0). Their only conference loss was a five-setter at North Dakota on Sept. 27. Idaho lost five of its first six contests before winning three of its next four picking up wins over Pepperdine, Boise State, and Portland. The Vandals opened conference action with a four-set win at Northern Colorado (9/25) before losing in five at North Dakota. They then defeated Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington, both in straight sets.
Idaho is hitting .244 this season, second in the Big Sky, while allowing opponents to hit .258, second worst. The Vandals are averaging 13.3 kills per set. Junior S Meredith Coba does a good job distributing the ball to all areas of the court as six players have over 100 kills this season. Coba averages 11.08 assists per set, tops in the league, and was named the Big Sky Player of the Week last week.
Sophomore OH Ali Forde leads the team with 158 kills for the season (2.77 kps). Forde is hitting .233 and is averaging 2.16 digs per set. Senior MB Alyssa Schultz leads the Vandals with 0.92 blocks per set. Schultz is averaging 2.21 kills per set from the middle and is hitting .343, fourth best in the league.
The Eagles: Eastern Washington is 5-11 overall this season and 1-3 in Big Sky action. The Eagles started the season winning four of their first six matches but then went on a eight-match losing streak in which they won just five sets. They dropped their conference opener at North Dakota in four sets before picking up their lone conference win in five sets at Northern Colorado. EWU dropped both matches last week to Southern Utah in five sets and Idaho in three.
Eastern Washington is hitting .213 as a team but is allowing opponents to hit a league-worst .274. The Eagles run a two-setter offense with sophomore Sophie Miller and freshman Nicole Rigoni. Miller is averaging 5.11 assists per set while Rigoni is averaging 5.02. Senior OH Kelsey Julian leads the team with 184 kills (3.02 kps) and is hitting .287 for the season. Junior OH Ana Jakovljevic leads the team with 19 aces on the season but she also leads the team with 25 return errors.
Last Year Against EWU: Portland State took both meetings a year ago. The Vikings swept the Eagles at the Peter W. Stott Center on Sept. 23 before winning in four sets on Oct. 28 in Cheney, Wash. PSU outhit EWU .276-to-.140 in the first match led by
Cheyne Corrado's double-double (14 kills, 11 digs). The Vikings once again outhit the Eagles in the second meeting, this time by a .239-to-.149 mark.
Kaeli Patton led the Vikings with 12 kills as they had three players with double-figure kills.
Katie O'Brien hit .500 in the match with 10 kills (10-1-18).
Kasi Clark posted a match-high 17 digs for the Vikings while
Garyn Schlatter posted a double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs.
Up Next: The Vikings return to the road for their next four conference matches. They begin their road trip at conference leading North Dakota on Oct. 16 followed by Sacramento State on Oct. 18. They will then play at the Montana schools beginning with Montana on Oct. 24 followed by Montana State on Oct. 25.
Home Sweet Home: Portland State has been nearly unbeatable at the Peter W. Stott Center under Head Coach
Michael Seemann, especially during Big Sky Conference play. The Vikings are 75-17 overall under Seemann at home and 57-5 in Big Sky play. They are 1-2 overall this season. .
Biggest in the Sky: The Vikings are 148-142 (.510) all-time in conference play since moving to the NCAA Division I level and joining the Big Sky in 1996. PSU went 12-68 over its first five years in the conference under head coach Chris Stanley including a pair of 0-16 conference seasons. The Vikings began to turn it around under Jeff Mozzochi going 37-49 in his second go-around as head coach. Since current Head Coach
Michael Seemann took over in 2007, the Vikings have been off the charts. They are 99-25 (.789) under Seemann in conference play but are even better at home going 57-5 (.919). Seemann has the most conference wins among active Big Sky coaches.
Clark Getting Closer: Senior L
Kasimira "Kasi" Clark entered the season seventh on Portland State's all-time career digs list. She started just 373 digs shy of the Portland State all-time career digs record of 1,742. Clark has tallied 235 digs this season (4.20 dps) and has moved all the way up to second all-time with 1,604 digs for her career. She became the third Viking to surpass the 1,600-career digs mark against Idaho State on Oct. 4. Clark currently has 1,604 career digs and is just 138 digs away from the all-time record with 12 matches to play.
| Player Passed (Career Digs) | Date | Opponent | Digs vs. Opponent |
| Jessica Brodie (1,441) | 9/6 | Georgia Southern | 14 |
| Joy Russell (1,480) | 9/12 | Oklahoma | 16 |
| Cathy Kuntz (1,498) | 9/15 | No. 14 Oregon | 20 |
| Leanne Peters (1,571) | 10/2 | Weber State | 20 |
| Sarah Sirianni (1,603) | 10/4 | Idaho State | 16 |
| Eavi Shovlin (1,742) | - | - | - |
Big Time Blockers: Seniors
Leigh-Ann Haataja and
Katie O'Brien have been one of the most, if not the most, prolific blocking duos in Portland State history. Both surpassed the 400-career block mark this season and are ranked in the top 20 in NCAA DI active block leaders. O'Brien is 18th among active career leaders with 409 career blocks. Haataja is 19th with 406 career blocks. They are also sixth and seventh respectively on Portland State's all-time career total blocks list. The next Viking ahead is Leanne Peters (1990-93) at 453. The two spent their first three years as a middle blocking tandem but Haataja has been moved to the outside for her senior season.
Seemann Goes for 100: Eighth-year Head Coach
Michael Seeman enters the week with a career big sky record of 99-25 (.798), one win shy of No. 100. Seemann is tops among active Big Sky coaches in career conference wins and fourth all-time in conference victories.
Winning Streak: The Vikings had their consecutive Big Sky regular season home winning streak snapped against Idaho State on Oct. 4. Prior to the loss to the Bengals, the Vikings had won 25-straight conference regular season matches at the Peter W. Stott Center, one shy of the program record of 26.
Corrado Goes Big: Senior OH
Cheyne Corrado posted a career-high 18 kills while adding 12 digs for her third double-double of the season at Northern Arizona (9/25) to open Big Sky Conference play. She then posted 15 kills and 13 digs at Southern Utah for her second straight double-double, forth of the season. She is averaging 4.12 kills per set, second in the league, during conference play so far this season.
Liva at the Net: Freshman MB
Sarah Liva had the best match of her young career at the net against Washington State (9/19). Liva posted a career-high, and team season high, 8.0 total blocks (2-6) including a career-high two solo blocks. Liva now leads the team with 38 blocks on the season (0.93 blocks per set). She has at least two blocks in all but two matches this season.
PSU vs. The Ranked: Over the course of the first four weeks of the season, Portland State faced three ranked opponents. The other 11 Big Sky Conference schools have combined for six matches against ranked opponents. North Dakota, Eastern Washington and Idaho State have each faced two.
Freshmen Making Their Mark: The Vikings welcomed six true freshmen to the roster this year and they have made an immediate impact. Setter
Erin Clark and MB
Sarah Liva have both started every match this season.
• Clark is the first Viking to start as a setter not named
Garyn Schlatter in four years and has had a great start to her career. Clark is averaging 9.46 assists per game along with 1.95 digs per set and 1.07 kills per set.
• Liva has improved every match for the Vikings at middle blocker. After a relatively slow start, Liva posted four blocks against No. 23 Loyola Marymount (9/18) and a career-high eight blocks against Washington State (9/19). She is averaging 1.30 kps and leads the team with 44 blocks.
• Roni LaPierre has been one of the Vikings go-to attackers with a killer instinct on the outside. She is second on team with 2.86 kps and is second with 2.27 dps. She has posted three of the Vikings' six double-doubles this season including against No. 14 Oregon (11 kills, 10 digs).
• Fellow freshmen
Lauren Nicholson and
Tasha Bojanic have both seen time this season. Bojanic has played in 34 of the team's 56 sets and is averaging 1.79 digs per set. Nicholson started the year as a serving specialist but has seen her time increase as an outside. She has 26 kills and 25 digs on the year along with eight aces.
Career Day for Corrado: Senior OH
Cheyne Corrado put together one of her best offensive performance of her four-year career in a four-set loss at Oklahoma (9/12). Corrado posted 17 kills against the Sooners and hit .263 for the match. What pushed her performance over the top was the fact that she tallied seven aces in the match. She became just the seventh player in PSU history to tally seven or more aces in a match. It was the second best all-time for the Vikings in a four-set match.
Roni Coming Out Swinging: It did not take long for freshman OH
Roni LaPierre to get her feet wet. She tallied eight kills (4-for-5 in the first set) against No. 4 Washington. She added 11 against Boise State and then 15 against Gonzaga to close out her first career weekend.
Serving it Up: The Vikings had an uncharacteristically slow start to the season at the service line tallying only seven aces over the first weekend of the season. The Vikings picked that up at the Omni Classic with 21 aces over 10 sets including a season-high 11 against Georgia Southern (9/6). Portland State got aces from six different players including three from
Cheyne Corrado. Corrado added a career-high seven kills against Oklahoma (9/13) and the Vikings are now averaging 0.31 aces per set for the season.
Slow Start: After a slow start to the season, the Vikings picked up their first win of the season, a four-set win over Georgia Southern at the Omni Classic in Boulder, CO. The Vikings opened the season on a five-match losing streak, their longest to start a season since 2000.
