Omni Classic (Boulder, CO)
Weekend Schedule
Thurs. 5 p.m. CT vs. CSUN	Live Stats
Fri., 12 p.m. CT Lamar	Live Stats
Fri., 5 p.m. CT vs. Oklahoma	Live Stats
Home Opener
Mon. 7 p.m. vs. #18 Oregon	Live Stats | Live Video
Player to Watch
	Sarah Liva Freshman / Middle Blocker   Liva led the Vikings with 13 total blocks (1.30 blocks per set) last weekend at the Omni Classic in Boulder, CO.
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Team Info: Schedule | Roster | News | Stats
More Coverage: Big Sky Release | Big Sky Stats

Complete Release in PDF Format

First Serve: The Portland State Vikings (1-5 overall) open their third week of the season by traveling to the Nike Invitational hosted by the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK Sept. 11-12. The Vikings will face off with the Cal State Northridge Matadors (5-1), the Lamar University Cardinals (0-6), and Oklahoma (4-2) at the Invitational. 
     Portland State will then come home for its first home match of the season when it welcomes the University of Oregon Ducks to the Peter W. Stott Center on Sept. 15 for a 7 p.m. first serve.  

Live Coverage: All three Portland State matches at the Nike Invitational can be followed online via Live Stats. Links can be found on the volleyball schedule page at GoViks.com. Friday night's match with Oklahoma will be televised on Fox College Sports-Pacific and can be found on Comcast Channel 415. 
     Monday's match with Oregon will be available via Live Stats at ViksLive.com. The match will also be streamed live online at WatchBigSky.com. 

The Opposition: Portland State and Cal State Northridge are tied 11-11 in their all-time series. The last meeting between the two schools was a three-set sweep by the Vikings in 2010. PSU and Lamar have only met three times, with the Vikings taking two. It was Lamar that took the last match in four sets in 1998. Oklahoma took the first ever meeting last year in four sets. PSU took the first set before dropping the next three. Portland State leads the all-time series record with Oregon 27-19. The majority of the Vikings' wins came in the late 1970's and early 1980's as Oregon has won 19 of the last 21 meetings going back to 1983. PSU last took a match in the series with a four-set win in 2005. 

The Matadors: Northridge enters play this weekend at the Nike Invitational 5-1 overall. The Matadors' lone loss this season was their last time out when they fell in straight sets at No. 23 Arizona. Prior to that they won five straight to open the season. The Matadors are hitting .249 on the season while opponents are hitting .199. Cieana Stinson leads the team with 83 kills (3.77 kps) and his hitting .286. Casey Hinger is second on the team with 3.42 kills per set and also leads the team in blocking with 13 total (0.68 blocks per set). 

The Cardinals: Lamar is the only winless team at the Nike Invitational coming in with an 0-6 record. The Cardinals are hitting .209 on the season while opponents are hitting .255. Cortney Moore comes in as the team's leading attacker with 80 kills (3.48 kps) and also leads the team with a .385 hitting percentage. Lamar is not a strong serving team as they have 27 aces through 23 sets but have made 71 errors at the service line. 

The Sooners: Nike Invitational host Oklahoma is the toughest competition the Vikings will see this weekend as they enter 4-2. Both of the Sooners' losses this season have come on the road in five sets, the first coming at No. 10 Florida. Madison Ward leads the team with 75 kills on the season (3.41 kps). Kimmy Gardiner is second on the team with 2.78 kills per set. Gardiner has the highest hitting percentage for players with more than 10 attempts with a .359 mark.  

The Ducks: Oregon will be the second ranked opponent that the Vikings will meet this season as they enter the week at No. 18 on the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I Coaches' Poll. The Ducks will host No. 23 Michigan State on Friday and Michigan on Saturday before coming to the Peter W. Stott Center on Monday. Oregon is 6-0 entering play this week. The Ducks swept their last weekend at the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic including a five-set win over No. 20 Hawai'i. They are hitting .300 from the floor as a team while opponents are hitting just .141. Liz Brenner leads the team with 77 kills (3.21 kps) and is hitting .263. Brenner is also averaging 3.21 digs per set which is second behind only libero Amanda Benson. Oregon has played with two setters this season as Maggie Scott has started every match tallying 6.54 assists per set. Shelisy Ashen has played in all six matches and is averaging 5.38 assists per set. 

Thrown in the Deep End: Portland State started three true freshmen to begin the season. Setter Erin Clark, outside hitter Roni LaPierre, and middle blocker Sarah Liva all picked up their first career starts in the season opener against No. 4 Washington. Fellow freshmen outside hitter Lauren Nicholson also saw her first career action at the Northwest Challenge. 

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 Washington. She added 11 against Boise State and then 15 against Gonzaga to close out her first career weekend. 

Clark Getting Closer: Senior L Kasimira "Kasi" Clark started the season just 373 digs shy of the Portland State all-time career digs record of 1,742. Clark added 85 to her total over the course of the first two weeks to bring her career mark to 1,454 to surpass Jessica Brodie and move into sixth on the all-time list. She is now 16 behind Joy Russell for fifth all time and 44 from tying Kathy Kuntz for fourth all time at 1,498.

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. 

Finding Her Form: Freshman MB Sarah Liva is finding her rhythm in the middle for the Vikings, especially at the net. She tallied six total blocks (0-6) over the first three matches but has picked it up over the last three. She Tallied four blocks including her first career solo block at Colorado (9/5) before adding another four (0-4) against Pittsburgh (9/6). She then posted five blocks (0-5) while adding a career-high nine kills against Georgia Southern (9/6). 

Blocking Duo: Seniors Leigh-Ann Haataja and Katie O'Brien have proved to be one of the best blocking duos in Portland State history. Haataja is ninth all-time in total blocks with 389 while O'Brien is 10th with 385. The two spent their first three years as a middle blocking tandem but Haataja has been moved to the outside for her senior 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. 

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.
 
Season Notes

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. 

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. 

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

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.