Match 1 Box Score - PDF | HTML
Match 2 Box Score - PDF | HTML

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Portland State volleyball team split a pair of matches Friday as part of the Lone Star Showdown hosted by Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.
 
The Vikings dropped their opening match against the Red Raiders in four sets before winning a five-setter against the Northwestern State Lady Demons. 
 
Freshman OH Jenna Mullen paced the Vikings with 32 kills on the day, 3.56 kills per set, while adding a trio of aces and four total blocks. She posted a career-high 19 kills in the opening match of the day against Texas Tech. She followed that up with 13 kills against the Lady Demons.
 
Fellow freshman OH Eva Linden added 27 kills, 3.00 kps, on the day while junior OH Pati Anae added 18. Anae posted her fourth double-double of the season against Northwestern State with 11 kills and 11 digs.
 
Sophomore S Kylie Copple started and went the distance for the Vikings posting a pair of 40-plus assist performances. She posted a career-high 44 assists along with 11 digs for her first career double-double.
 
Portland State opened the day with one of its best sets of the season connecting on 17 kills with just two errors to take the first set against Texas Tech, 25-23. The Vikings hit .395 in the first set but cooled off and did not hit better than .176 in any set the rest of the match and fell to the Red Raiders in four sets.
 
Mullen recorded a career-high 19 kills against Texas Tech while sophomore L Tasha Bojanic posted a career-high 24 digs in the loss.
 
The second match of the day against Northwestern State was back-and-forth throughout the entire match.
 
The Vikings were up 20-17 in the first set before the Lady Demons scored six-straight points to go up 23-20. PSU came back and tied it at 23-23 but dropped the first set 25-23.
 
Portland State rallied and tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-19 win in the second set. The Vikings hit .419 in the set. Mullen and sophomore MB Sarah Liva each tallied four kills in the set.
 
Northwestern State took the third set, 25-20, to regain the lead in the match but Portland State again tied it with a 25-23 win in the fourth to force a decisive fifth set.
 
The Vikings entered the day 0-1 in five-set matches this season and 1-4 since the beginning of the 2014 season. Their last five-set win was at home against Idaho last season. Their last five-set win on the road was a 3-2 victory at Idaho State to end the season in 2013 to clinch a share of the Big Sky regular season title.
 
The fifth set stayed close through the first few points. After the score was tied at 5-5, the Vikings scored two straight to go up 7-5. The Vikings increased their lead to four points at 11-7 and maintained that advantage throughout the rest of the set as Liva won it for the Vikings with her eighth and final kill of the match.
 
The Lady Demons outhit the Vikings .196-to-.169 in the match. It is the first time since their five-set win over Idaho last year that the Vikings were outhit and still won.
 
The Vikings improved to 4-7 overall on the season with the win while the Lady Demons fell to 2-10.
 
Portland State will conclude action at the Lone Star Showdown Saturday morning when it takes on Pacific-12 Conference foe Washington State. The Cougars took the last meeting in straight sets last year in Pullman, Wash. by a combined nine points.
 
NOTES: Jenna Mullen recorded a career-high 19 kills against Texas Tech … Pati Anae tallied her fourth double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs against Northwestern State … Kylie Copple made her first career start against Texas Tech … Copple recorded her first career double-double with career highs in assists (44) and digs (11) … Tasha Bojanic posted a career-high 24 digs against Texas Tech.