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Northwest Challenge (Boise, Idaho)
Weekend Schedule
Fri. 7 p.m. MT vs. No. 4 Washington	Live Stats | Live Video
Sat., 10 a.m. MT vs. Boise State	Live Stats | Live Video
Sat., 7 p.m. MT vs. Gonzaga	Live Stats | Live Video
Player to Watch
	Kasimira "Kasi" Clark Senior / Libero   Clark enters the season as the two-time defending Big Sky Conference Libero of the Year.
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First Serve:  The Portland State volleyball team will get its 2014 season going this Friday and Saturday as the Vikings take part in the Seventh Annual Northwest Challenge hosted by Boise State. The Vikings will open the four-team tournament with preseason No. 4 Washington Friday at 7 p.m. MT. Portland State will face the Broncos Saturday at 10 a.m. MT before finishing off the tournament with Gonzaga Saturday night at 7 p.m. MT.

Live Coverage: All three Portland State matches can be followed online via a live video stream and live stats. Links for both can be found on the volleyball schedule page at GoViks.com or at BroncoSports.com. 

The Opposition: The Vikings have matched up with each of its three opponents the past five years at The Challenge. Washington leads the all-time series with PSU 12-22-1. Portland State leads 16-4 all-time against Boise State and 10-6 all-time against Gonzaga. 

Preseason Poll: The Vikings were selected to finish sixth this season in the Big Sky Conference's Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Vikings received 84 total votes with no first place votes.  

Last Season: PSU finished the 2013 campaign with a 21-11 overall record and a 17-3 conference record claiming a share of  the regular season title with North Dakota. After defeating Montana in the Big Sky Tournament, the Vikings were eliminated by Idaho State in straight sets. 

Mixed Roster: The Vikings return seven letterwinners from a year ago including five experienced seniors. They welcome six true freshmen to the roster. The Vikings will have to mix the two groups of experienced veterans and inexperienced greenhorns to be successful. 

Strong Defense: Head Coach Michael Seemann and the Vikings have prided themselves in their defensive play over the years. In seven seasons under Seemann, opponents are hitting just .167. PSU has led the Big Sky in opponent hitting percentage four of the seven years.

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 74-15 overall under Seemann at home and 56-4 in Big Sky play. They went 10-2 at home in 2012.

Winning Streaks: The Vikings set or matched several program winning streaks during  2013 season.  
• Portland State is riding a nine-match Big Sky regular season winning streak, tied for best all-time.
• Portland State is riding a five-match Big Sky regular season road winning streak, second all-time (6).
• Portland State is riding a 24-match Big Sky regular season home winning streak, second all-time (26). 
• Portland State won 10-straight matches in 2013 to match its Division I record.

Big Shoes to Fill: The Vikings graduated one of the best setters in program history in Garyn Schlatter in 2013. Schlatter was the starting setter for the Vikings all four years on the Park Blocks. The task of replacing Schlatter will be given to sophomore Shelbi Miyashiro and freshman Erin Clark. 

Conference Realignment: The Big Sky Conference will look a little different this year. The conference welcomed Idaho into the league in July, giving it 12 member schools for volleyball. With the addition of Idaho the league will be split into two divisions with each team playing every team in division twice and the other division once. The division alignments are:
• North: Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, Montana State, North Dakota, Northern Colorado.
• South: Idaho State, Northern Arizona, Portland State, Sacramento State, Southern Utah, Weber State. 

Big Sky Tournament: With the addition of Idaho and the realignments of teams into divisions the Big Sky Volleyball Tournament has also seen some changes. The tournament will be played the weekend before Thanksgiving (Nov. 20-22). The 2014 Big Sky Volleyball Tournament will be hosted by the 2014 Big Sky regular season champion. The host of the conference tournament will be the team with the best overall conference record, with any ties broken by head-to-head play. The No. 2 seed will be the champion of the alternate division from the host. Seeds three through eight will be determined by overall conference won-loss record.

SEASON PREVIEW
Over the past seven years the Portland State women's volleyball team has seen success unparalleled in recent Big Sky Conference history. The Vikings enter the 2014 season as the two-time defending Big Sky Conference regular season champions after claiming at least a share of the title for the fifth time in the last seven years.
 
Portland State went 21-11 overall and 17-3 in conference play in 2013 for the second straight season. After having a veteran-laden squad in 2013, 11 of the 13 players being upperclassmen, the Vikings will be a split squad of sorts for 2014 with five seniors and six freshmen on the team along with a pair of sophomores.
 
The challenge for eighth-year Head Coach Michael Seemann will be how to mix the old and the new and continue the program's tradition of excellence. This senior class has experienced some of the greatest success in recent history. Over the past three seasons, Portland State has gone 60-35 overall and 46-10 in Big Sky play. They have been particularly difficult to beat at the Peter W. Stott Center going 26-2 in conference action during that stretch, including 20-0 over the past two seasons. 
 
Portland State lost six players to graduation following the 2013 season including Garyn Schlatter who finished her career as one of the top setters in school history. Schlatter became the first player in Big Sky Conference history to be named to the All-Conference First Team all four years and was named the conference's Most Valuable Player following her senior campaign.
 
The Vikings will also have to replace the majority of their outside hitters as they lost Aubrey Mitchell, Kaeli Patton and Jaklyn Wheeler to graduation.
 
Portland State returns a lot of talent in 2014. Kasimira "Kasi" Clark returns as the two-time defending Big Sky Libero of the Year.  Clark was second in the league with 4.82 digs per set a year ago and currently sits seventh on Portland State's all-time digs list with 1,369. Eavi Shovlin (1994-97) has the all-time record of 1,742, just 373 ahead of Clark.
 
The Vikings also return two of the top middle blockers in the conference in Leigh-Ann Haataja and Katie O'Brien. Haataja led the Vikings and the Big Sky with 1.28 blocks per set to go along with a .278 hitting percentage, eighth in the league. O'Brien was 10th in the league with a .272 hitting percentage.
 
Cheyne Corrado is back as the Vikings' lone returning outside hitter. She played in all 32 matches a year ago, making 12 starts. She tallied 136 kills and is poised to have a breakout senior campaign.
 
The Vikings will look to a talented freshmen class to make an immediate impact on the court. Portland State adds setter Erin Clark to the roster as well as a pair of outside hitters in Roni LaPierre and Lauren Nicholson. Middle blockers Sara Liva and Emani Jackson along with defensive specialist Tasha Bojanic round out the 2014 newcomers.
 
POSITION-BY-POSITION BREAKDOWN
 
MIDDLE BLOCKERS
The middle blocker position has probably the most depth on the Vikings' roster this season. The Vikings welcome back All-Big Sky Conference Second Team selection senior Leigh-Ann Haataja who led the conference with 1.28 blocks per set a year ago. Haataja has played in all but one match over her first three years on the Park Blocks and has tallied 371 career blocks following a career-high 145 blocks in 2013. Haataja led the Vikings with a .279 hitting percentage a year ago.
 
Senior Katie O'Brien joins Haataja in the middle after tallying 103 total blocks in 2013. O'Brien added 141 kills (1.38 kills per set) a year ago along with a .272 hitting percentage.
 
Haataja and O'Brien are third and fourth respectively on the Portland State Division I blocks list. They are arguably the most prolific blocking duo in DI history with a combined 738 blocks.
 
The Vikings have three other players who will spend some time in the middle this season. Senior Anna DeMots is coming off a shoulder injury that kept her out of the majority of 2013 and should be back on the court this season. Portland State also added two freshmen middles in Sarah Liva and Emani Jackson.
 
LIBERO/DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS
Kasimira "Kasi" Clark returns for her senior season as the two-time defending Big Sky Libero of the Year. She finished second in the league with 545 digs for a 4.82 digs per set average. Clark's numbers in 2013 were down from her Portland State record setting year in 2012 when she tallied 635 digs; she was plagued by a hip injury for most of the year. After an off-season surgery, Clark is healthier than ever and ready to make a push at Eavi Shovlin's (1994-97) all-time dig record of 1,742. Clark's career mark at 1,369 is just 373 shy of Shovin's.
 
"She's more confident and moving better already than she was last year," Head Coach Michael Seemann said. "It frees her up to do what you want her to do, which is managing the back-court. She's so experienced that she keeps things together when they might break down with another team."
 
Valerie Hughes played 31 matches as a true freshman a year ago, recording 31 assists and 150 digs. Tasha Bojanic joins the Vikings as another defensive specialist.
 
SETTERS
The biggest question mark for the Vikings is who will take over the position as the team's starting setter. Red-shirt sophomore Shelbi Miyashiro and freshman Erin Clark will be vying for the starting spot after the Vikings graduated the reigning Big Sky MVP Garyn Schlatter following a stellar four-year career on the Park Blocks.
 
"First and foremost we need to find a setter who provides the most consistency and who understands our offense. When you talk about filling shoes, in Garyn's situation, you're talking about pure leadership and the ability to manage a court, the ability to deal with adversity whether it is being on the road or us not playing well. That may be the bigger challenge/factor between Shelbi and Erin."
 
Miyashiro played in 30 matches a year ago, primarily as a serving specialist. Her 26 aces helped the Vikings to a league-leading 204 aces in 2013.
 
Clark comes to the Vikings after a distinguished career at Ayala High School in Chino, CA. She was an All-Conference and All-Region first team selection and made the Under Armour High School All-American Watch List as a senior.
 
OUTSIDE HITTERS
Another question coming into the season will be how the Vikings reload on the outside after graduating all but one outside hitter a year ago. Senior Cheyne Corrado returns as the Vikings' lone outside hitter from 2013. Corrado played in all 32 matches recording a career-high 136 kills. She hit just .101 a year ago and will have to improve her productivity and consistency if she's going to lead a young outside hitting crew.
 
"Cheyne has done everything she's needed to do in the off season to get to improve her consistency," Seemann said. "Both outsides coming to us have played outside for their teams for as long as they've played ball. They've been at the level we expect of them for a long time, on high-level clubs.
 
"Lauren Nicholson and Roni LaPierre are both from a very tough region in Southern California, so as far as who they've been seeing across the net they are prepared to take on this role. Both have similar skill-sets. Lauren is more of a pure ball handler, passer and defender. She's more of a true six-rotation player. Roni is more of a terminator. She's going to be more of an attacker for us."
 
The Vikings have also worked out Haataja on the outside and she could expect to see some, if not a lot of action, there this season.