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PORTLAND – The Vikings defended their home court Saturday night with a three-set sweep of Weber State Saturday night at the Peter W. Stott Center. The Vikings won by scores of 25-15, 25-21, and 25-19.
 
It was the final home match of the season for the Vikings and the final home match for Assistant Coach Katie Kaysinger, who is stepping down at the end of the season to pursue a career in the medical field.
 
Junior OH Pati Anae put together her best hitting night of the year, racking up 17 kills while posting a career-high .419 hitting percentage. She went 17-for-31 in attacks with just four errors. Anae added 10 digs for her team-best 10th double-double of the season.
 
Freshman OH Eva Linden added 10 kills of her own, along with eight digs. She also added three blocking assists. Sophomore MB Sarah Liva was nearly perfect going 8-for-11 (.727) from the floor with no errors. She added a team-best four blocks. Freshman OH Jenna Mullen tallied nine kills and three of the team's five service aces.  
 
The Vikings posted their second-best hitting mark of the season, best in conference play, hitting .315 (51-17-108) for the match. The 51 kills are the most by the Vikings in a three-set match this season.
 
Weber State scored the first four points of the match before the Vikings rattled off six-straight points behind tough serving from Mullen, including back-to-back service aces, to go up 6-4. After trading points, the Vikings took four of the next five points to go up 11-7. The Vikings continued to put points together and pushed their advantage to 17-10, forcing a Weber State timeout. Two-straight points by the Vikings forced the Wildcats' second timeout of the set.
 
Mullen continued her tough serving with an ace coming out of the timeout to put the Vikings up 20-10. A kill to the back line by the Wildcats ended the Vikings' 5-0 run. Weber State put two points together, for the first time since the first four points of the set, but the Vikings scored two straight to go up 23-13. After a WSU point, Anae tallied the Vikings' fourth ace of the set to give them set-point at 24-14. The Wildcats staved off one set point before a blocking error gave the Vikings the 25-15 win in the first set.
 
The Vikings hit .520 in the opening frame tallying 17 kill on 25 attacks with just four errors. It was the best set for the Vikings since they hit .636 in a set last season against Southern Utah.
 
The score bounced back and forth early in the second before four-straight points put them up 6-2 on a solo block from Anae. Weber State strung a few points together but the Vikings maintained an 11-6 lead on another block, their fifth of the match. The Vikings extended their lead to 14-8 with another block, forcing a WSU timeout. Three-straight points by the Wildcats cut the score to 14-11 before a cross-court kill from Linden ended the WSU run to put the Vikings up 15-11 midway through the second.
 
The Vikings went up 17-12, which forced a Weber State timeout. The Vikings scored five of the next six points to go up 22-13. Back-to-back blocks by Weber State, followed by back-to-back PSU attacking errors, cut the lead to 22-17, forcing a Portland State timeout. Two more kills by the Wildcats and a Portland State attacking error rand the Wildcats' run to 7-0 and cut the Vikings lead to 22-20, forcing another Portland State timeout.
 
Following the timeout, a quick tip by Copple at the net broke the run and put the Vikings up 23-21. An attacking error by WSU gave set point to the Vikings. Weber State staved off set point with a kill before Liva's sixth kill of the match, on seven swings, gave the Vikings the 25-21 win in the second set to give them a two sets to none lead.
 
The score once again bounced back and forth to start the third set Weber State scored two-straight to go up 6-4 before back-to-back kills by Linden and Anae tied the set again at 6-6. A screaming kill by Anae down the line gave the Vikings the lead. After Weber State tied it again at 7-7, PSU strung three straight go to up 10-7. Portland State went up 13-9 before three-straight by Weber State cut the lead to one at 13-12.
 
Portland State increased its lead again to three points at 19-16 on a long rally and a kill from Mullen, forcing a Weber State timeout. The Vikings maintained its lead and ran away with the third set, 25-19, on Anae's match-high 17th kill.
 
The win improves the Vikings' record to 8-18 overall and 4-10 in Big Sky Conference play. Weber State fell to 5-21 and 1-13 with the loss.
 
Portland State heads into the final weekend of the regular season with a chance, albeit a small chance, of making the tournament. The Vikings are two matches out of the eighth and final tournament spot with two matches to play.
 
The Vikings hit the road to finish out the season at Southern Utah (Thursday, Nov. 12) and at Northern Arizona (Saturday, Nov. 14).
 
NOTES: Pati Anae recorded her team-best 10th double-double with 17 kills and 10 digs … Portland State hit .520 in the first set, its highest in a set this season … Portland State hit .315 for the match, its second-best mark of the season, best in conference play.