PORTLAND – The Vikings took care of business Thursday night with a three-set sweep of Weber State at the Peter W. Stott Center. With the win, the Vikings secured the sixth seed in next week Big Sky Conference tournament.
 
Portland State (16-11 overall, 8-7 Big Sky Conference) put together an all-around team effort in the win. The Vikings had three players with double-digit kills, four with double-digit digs, and came up one dig sky of four players with double-doubles in the match.
 
Senior OH Pati Anae led all players with 17 kills. She added 11 digs for her 14th double-double of the year, while junior S Erin Clark added her 13th double-double of the year with 42 assist and 10 digs.
 
Sophomore OH Eva Linden, who has not seen the court much over the past few weeks, got the start for the Vikings and recorded her first double-double of the year with 11 kills and a season-high 12 digs. She added a pair of blocks and five assists in the match.
 
Freshman OH Caitlin Bettenay came one dig sky of her ninth double-double with 15 kills and nine digs.
 
Portland State jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the first set. Weber State (14-11, 5-10) came back with a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 8-5 before a kill from sophomore MB Katy Wilson down the right sideline made it 9-5. After a Portland State kill, the Wildcats scored four straight to pull within one at 10-9, which forced Portland State to call a timeout.
 
The Vikings came out of the timeout with three-straight kills from Bettenay to go up 13-9, which forced Weber State to call its first timeout of the set. The Wildcats took the first point out of the timeout before another kill from Bettenay made it 14-10. Weber State pulled within one at 16-15 but Linden's fourth kill of the set put the Vikings up 17-15. A kill from Anae and a WSU attacking error forced the Wildcats to take their second timeout.
 
Weber State scored three straight to tie the set at 22-22 before another kill from Bettenay, her sixth of the opening frame, gave the Vikings the lead. The Wildcats staved off a pair of set points to tie it again at 24-24. Weber State took its first lead of the match before the teams traded points to 26-26.
 
The Wildcats took the lead before two-straight points by the Vikings gave them a 28-27 lead. Weber State staved off another set point to make it 28-28.  A WSU attacking error and a solo block from Bettenay, the Vikings' second of the match, gave PSU the 30-28 win in the first set.
 
It was the first time since time since the Vikings took the first set at Northern Colorado in 2013 that the Vikings have scored 30 points in a single set, they took that set 31-29.
 
Portland State again jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the second set. Weber State came all the way back to tie it and then take the lead at 14-13. The Wildcats' 10th block of the match gave them a 15-13 lead, which forced a Portland State timeout.
 
The Vikings came out of the timeout with back-to-back points, which forced the Wildcats to call their first timeout. The teams traded points to 19-19 before back-to-back points by the Vikings put them up 21-19 and forced Weber State's second timeout. The Vikings' first ace of the match made it 22-19. The teams once again traded points to 24-20, giving the Vikings set point.
 
Weber State staved off two set points to make it 24-22, which forced the Vikings to use their second timeout. The Wildcats staved off another set point before Bettenay powered her way through a block for her 11th kill of the match to give the Vikings a 25-23 win in the second to go up 2-0.
 
Weber State took a 5-4 lead early in the third set before Portland State scored seven of the next eight points to go up 11-6, which forced a Wildcat timeout. The Vikings continued to build on their lead before taking the third set 25-16 to complete the sweep.
 
Portland State hosts Idaho State Saturday night at the Stott Center in both team's Big Sky Conference finale. The match is slated for a 7 p.m. PT start and will be Senior Day for the Vikings.  
 
NOTES:
• Eva Linden recorded her first double-double of the year with 11 kills and 12 digs.
• Pati Anae recorded her 14th double-double with 17 kills and 11 digs.
• Erin Clark recorded her 13th double-double with 42 assists and 10 digs.
• Portland State had four players with double-digit digs.