GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Vikings dropped a tough defensive battle to the North Dakota Fighting Hawks Saturday afternoon in four sets in Grand Forks, N.D.

North Dakota (13-8 overall, 5-1 Big Sky Conference) took the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-19 before Portland State (10-8, 2-4) took the third set by a score of 25-23. The Fighting Hawks took the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth.
 
Each team hit below .200 for the match with the Fighting Hawks out-hitting the Vikings .190-to-.124. Each team had double-digit blocks and each had over 90 digs in a defensive battle.
 
Junior L Tasha Bojanic led the Vikings' defense with a career-high 31 digs in the match. She was one of four Vikings with double-digit digs, all with 15 digs or more. It was the first time since another defensive battle with North Dakota in 2014 that Portland State has had three, and in this case four, players with 15 or more digs in a match. As a team, the Vikings posted a season-high 97 digs.
 
Sophomore MB Katy Wilson led the Vikings in kills for the first time this season with 11 on 24 swings. She posted a career-high hitting percentage of .458 (11-0-24). Wilson added a pair of blocks in the match. The Vikings tallied 10.0 blocks, with five players tallying multiple blocks.
 
Senior OH Pati Anae posted her ninth double-double of the season, third in a row, with 10 kills and 15 digs. She added three blocks in the match, including a pair of solo blocks.
 
The match remained close through much of the opening frame. Down by one at 12-11, the Vikings got caught in a tough rotation as the Fighting Hawks went on a 4-0 run to go up 16-11. North Dakota maintained a four-point lead before extending its lead to take the set 25-19.
 
North Dakota took an early 4-1 lead in the second set before extending its lead to 10-4. The Vikings were able to cut the lead down to two, 17-15, after a service ace from junior S Erin Clark. The Vikings tied the set at 18-18 on a kill from sophomore MB Mikaelyn Sych, which forced a UND timeout. North Dakota came out of the timeout and took seven of the last eight points to take the set 25-19.
 
Tied at 14-14 in the third set, the Vikings went on a 4-0 to take an 18-14 lead. North Dakota pulled within one at 21-20 but the Vikings maintained their lead until a kill from sophomore OH Jenna Mullen gave them a 25-23 win in the third.
 
After falling behind 18-11 in the fourth set, the Vikings were unable to make the comeback, falling 25-18 in the fourth to drop the match.
 
The Vikings hit the road once again next week for a pair of Big Sky South Division matches at Northern Arizona (Oct. 13) and at Southern Utah (Oct. 15).
 
NOTES:
• Katy Wilson hit a career-best .458 (11-0-24).
• Pati Anae posted her ninth double-double, third in a row, with 10 kills and 15 digs.
• Tasha Bojanic recorded a career-high 31 digs.
• Hadley Heck recorded a career-high 15 digs.
• Haley Glass matched her career high with 15 digs.
• Portland State had three players with 15-plus digs for the first time since at North Dakota (10/16/14).
• Portland State had a season-high six solo blocks.
• Portland State posted double-digit blocks for the fifth time this season.