Big Sky Conference
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Thurs. 7 p.m. PT at NAU	Live Stats | Live Video
Sat., 1 p.m. MT at SUU	Live Stats | Live Video
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	Leigh-Ann Haataja Senior / Outside Hitter   Leigh-Ann is two blocks away from 400 and five blocks away from moving into a tie for 6th all-time at PSU in career total blocks.
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First Serve: The Portland State Vikings (2-10 overall) will open their Big Sky Conference slate this week with a pair of road matches beginning at Northern Arizona (9-2) on Thursday (Sept. 25). They will then wrap up the month of September at Southern Utah (7-3) on Saturday Sept. 27. 

Live Coverage: Both matches can be followed online via Live Stats and a live video stream at WatchBigSky.com. Links for both can be found on the volleyball schedule page at GoViks.com. Thursday's match at Northern Arizona will be televised on Fox College Sports Pacific, Comcast channel 722. 

Last Time Out: The Vikings dropped a pair of three-set matches at the Cougar Classic in Pullman, Wash. to No. 23 Loyola Marymount and Washington State. LMU outhit PSU .265-to-.094 for the match and did not allow a Viking to hit double-digit kills. Portland State then played a gritty early morning match against Washington State. The Vikings dropped the first two sets by a combined four points losing 25-23 and 28-26. The Cougars then put together a run late in the third to complete the sweep with a 25-19 win in the third. Freshman MB Sarah Liva was named to the Cougar Classic All-Tournament team after hitting .257 with 15 kills (2.50 kps) over the two matches. She also tallied 13 total blocks (2.17 bps) including a career-high 8.0 (2-6) against the Cougars. 

The Opposition: Portland State holds the all-time marks against both opponents this week. Portland State is 19-17 all-time against Northern Arizona going back to 1996 when the Vikings joined the Big Sky. NAU took 15 of the first 17 matches in the series. Portland State won the next 16 matches in the series. The two teams have split each of the last two seasons with each team winning on their home court. PSU is 7-11 all-time in Flagstaff. 
     Portland State is 4-0 all-time against Southern Utah, all four matches coming after SUU joined the Big Sky for the 2012 season. The Vikings are 2-0 in Cedar City with the most competitive match in the series coming in 2012. SUU took the first set 25-12 before the Vikings came back and took the next two by scores of 26-24 and 25-17. The T-Birds forced a fifth set with a 25-21 win in the fourth but the Vikings rolled to a 15-6 win in the final frame. 

The Lumberjacks: Northern Arizona enters Big Sky play with the best winning percentage in the league with a 9-2 mark. The Lumberjacks started the season 9-0 before dropping a pair of three set matches at Hawai'i last weekend. NAU has not played a particularly tough non-conference slate as six of their nine opponents have a sub-.500 win percentage and none have been ranked in the top 25. 
     The 'Jacks enter conference play with the top hitting mark in the league at .258. They lead the conference in kills (13.42 kps) and assists (12.58 aps). They are second in aces (1.76 sa/s) and digs (16.45 dps). NAU's 2.42 blocks per set is third in the league while their opponent hitting percentage of .141 is also third in the league. Northern Arizona has three players in the top 10 in hitting led by junior MB Payton Bock's .363 (49-12-102) mark. Bock is also third in the league with 1.14 blocks per set.
     Senior OH Sydney Kemper leads the Lumberjacks with 124 kills (3.26 kps). Her .297 hitting mark is seventh in the Big Sky. Kemper is also tied for the team lead with 33 total blocks (0-33) for the year. 
     Junior OH Janae Vander Ploeg is second on the team with 117 kills (3.08 kps). Vander Ploeg is the team leader with 17 aces on the season and is second in digs with 148 (3.89 dps). 

Last Year Against NAU: Portland State and Northern Arizona split the season-series in 2013 with each team winning on its home court. NAU took the first match in Flagstaff in straight sets. The 'Jacks held the Vikings to a sub-.100 hitting percentage for the match and outblocked the Vikings 13-to-6. Sydney Kemper posted a near triple-double with 14 kills, 11 digs and seven blocks (1-6). 
     Portland State took the second meeting in Portland in four sets. Northern Arizona took the first set 26-24 before Portland State took the final three sets by scores of 25-12, 25-19, and 25-17. The Vikings had three players with double-digit kills led by Kaeli Patton's 15. Jaklyn Wheeler posted a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs. PSU hit .281 as a team and posted 10 aces in the match. 

The Thunderbirds: Southern Utah enters conference play with a 7-3 overall record but has lost three of its last four matches. The Thunderbirds opened the season with six straight wins dropping just one set over that stretch. They then went on a three-match slide falling in four sets to Indiana State and SIUE respectively before being swept by Arkansas State. The T-Birds won their last match at Grand Canyon in four sets. 
     Southern Utah is second in the Big Sky with a .254 hitting percentage and first in opponent hitting percentage. The Thunderbirds are allowing opponents to hit just .096 this season. Opponents have hit .100 or worse in six of the T-Birds' 10 matches including three matches where opponents hit .000 or worse. 
Junior OH Madi Forsythe leads the team with 119 kills (3.50 kps) this season. Forsythe is hitting .269 from the floor and has committed only 37 errors in 305 attempts. She is also averaging 2.18 digs per set and has 13 total blocks (3-10). 
      Freshman OH Remo Gaogao is second on the squad with 113 kills (3.32 kps). Gaogao leads the team with 14 aces on the season and is third with 2.35 digs per set. Senior MB Annie Stradling has the team's best hitting percentage at .391 and is averaging 1.67 kills per set. Stradling is also the team's top blocker with 36 total blocks (9-27). 

Last Year Against SUU: Portland State took both matches a year ago in straight sets. The Vikings moved to 5-1 in conference play with a sweep in Cedar City on Oct. 5. Jaklyn Wheeler led the Vikings with 13 kills in the match while Aubrey Mitchell went 10-for-17 in kill opportunities with no errors for a .588 hitting mark. The Vikings hit .237 for the match and held SUU to a .065 mark. Portland State took the season series with a sweep at the Peter W. Stott Center on Nov. 7. The Vikings hit .351 in the sweep. Kaeli Patton led the Vikings with 16 kills and a .520 hitting marks.

Up Next: Following this weekend on the road, The Vikings return home for the start of a four-match home stand Thursday, Oct. 2 against Weber State. The Vikings will play Weber State, Idaho State (Oct. 4), conference newcomer Idaho (Oct. 9), and Eastern Washington (Oct. 11) during their longest home stand of the season.