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CEDAR CITY, Utah – Junior OH Pati Anae's 11th double-double of the season propelled the Vikings to a four-set win over Southern Utah on the road Thursday night in Cedar City, Utah. The Vikings took the match by scores of 25-22, 21-25, 25-15, and 25-23.
 
Anae's double-double came with a .400 (14-2-30) hitting performance on the night. She posted a team-high 14 kills along with 10 digs for the double-double.
 
Fellow outside hitter freshman Jenna Mullen matched Anae's 14 kills, while hitting .273 (14-5-33). Freshman OH Eva Linden added 11 double-digit kills.
 
Southern Utah jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first set. The Vikings scored the next five points, behind Mullen's serving, to take a 5-3 lead. The teams battled back and fourth all the way to 13-13 before the Vikings strung three points together to go up 16-13.
 
Portland State went up by as much as seven points, at 24-17, before the Thunderbirds scored five-straight, including four PSU attacking errors. Linden finally gave the Vikings their 25th point with a kill to take the set 25-22. She led the Vikings with six of her 11 kills in the opening frame.
 
The second set was close through its early stages. With the score tied at 18-18, the T-Birds scored five-straight points to take control of the set at 23-18. They closed out the set, 25-21, to tie the match at one set apiece heading into the break.
 
The Vikings led wire-to-wire in the third frame and ran away with it, 25-15, to go up 2-1. They hit .412, going 9-for-19 with just one attacking error. They racked up the blocks with five in the set, which accounted for half of Southern Utah's 10 attacking errors.
 
Southern Utah went up by four midway through the fourth set at 13-9. The Vikings scored three-straight to pull within one at 13-12, forcing a Southern Utah timeout. Following the timeout, the Vikings tied the set at 15-15.
 
The teams traded points back and forth all the way to 23-23. Anae came up big for the Vikings with back-to-back kills to give the Vikings the 25-23 win in the fourth set. Anae tallied five kills in the set while hitting .417 (5-0-12).
 
Portland State improved to 9-18 overall on the season and 5-10 in Big Sky Conference play. Southern Utah fell to 15-13 and 6-9.
 
The Vikings close out the regular season Saturday at Northern Arizona. The match is slated for a 7 p.m. MT start. The Lumberjacks clinched the Big Sky regular season championship Thursday night with a four-set win over Sacramento State. NAU will host the Big Sky Tournament next week in Flagstaff, AZ.
 
NOTES: Pati Anae recorded her team-best 11th double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs … Portland State won back-to-back matches for the first time in conference play.