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CEDAR CITY, Utah – The Vikings rallied again from being two sets down to force a fourth set but were unable to force a fifth as they fell by scores of 25-22, 25-21, 18-25, and 25-22 to the Southern Utah Thunderbirds Saturday afternoon in Cedar City, Utah.
 
Senior OH Cheyne Corrado posted her second straight double-double, fourth of the season, with a match-high 15 kills and 13 digs. Corrado now leads the team with 147 kills on the season and a 3.00 kills per set mark. Fellow
 
Leigh-Ann Haataja tallied 13 kills and a trio of blocks, which moved her into sole possession of sixth all-time at Portland State in career total blocks. She now has 404 total blocks for her career. Katie O'Brien posted five blocking assists against the T-Birds which moved her into seventh all-time in career blocks with 402.
 
The Vikings surpassed their previous season high of 64 digs set Thursday night at Northern Arizona with 77 Saturday afternoon. Kasimira "Kasi" Clark posted a team-high 17 digs against the T-Birds and was one of five Vikings with double-figure digs. It was the first time since the Vikings played at Southern Utah on Nov. 1, 2011 that they have had five players with 10-or-more digs.
 
Corrado helped Portland State (2-12 overall, 0-2 Big Sky Conference) to an early 4-1 lead in the first set before Southern Utah (9-4, 2-0) rattled off seven straight to take an 8-4 lead. The Thunderbirds increased their lead to nine points at 21-12 before the Vikings went on a run to cut into the lead. PSU came all the way back and trailed by one point at 23-22 but two straight by SUU gave the T-Birds 1-0 lead.
 
The second set was tied at 14-14 before SUU went on another run to go up 18-14. The Vikings tried to battle back but the four-point deficit was too much to overcome and they lost 25-21 in the second to fall behind two sets to none.
 
With the score tied at 8-8 in the third set, the Vikings went on a 5-0 run to go up 13-12. They maintained their lead and improved it to nine points at 24-15. SUU fought off a couple of set points before PSU took it 25-18.
 
Portland State brought in freshman OH Roni LaPierre to start the third set, which proved to be a catalyst. She was all over the place tallying three kills in the set and six digs. She ended the game with six kills and 13 digs.
 
Portland State rode its momentum from the third set and jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the fourth set. Southern Utah came back to tie the set at 7-7 with a 6-1 run. The teams stayed deadlocked to 15-15 before the T-Birds scored two straight to go up 17-15. The Vikings came back and tied it at 19-19 but four straight by the Thunderbirds gave them a 23-19 lead. They eventually took the fourth set 25-22 to take the match in four sets.
 
NOTES: First time Portland State had five players with double-digit digs since playing at Southern Utah on Nov. 1, 2012 … Erin Clark posted her second career double-double with 36 assists and 12 digs … Kasimira "Kasi" Clark posted a team-high 17 digs … Cheyne Corrado posted her second straight double-double with a match-high 15 kills and 13 digs.