PORTLAND - New year. New team. New attitude for the Portland State volleyball team. The Vikings came out with a vengeance in their first match of the year, defeating Long Beach State, 3-1, by scores of 25-18, 25-14, 18-25, and 27-25.
 
"It is good to see the things that we worked on in the preseason come through and shine," Head Coach Michael Seemann said following the win. "I was really pleased with our blocking tonight. We got a little undisciplined as the match went on but we did a good job of rechecking ourselves and coming up with some big blocks at the end."
 
Hitting percentage, both offensively and defensively, along with blocking where areas that were emphasized all throughout the preseason for the Vikings. They came up big in each category against the 49ers.
 
Portland State out-hit Long Beach State .252-to-.188 in the match. The Vikings hit over .300 in two out of the four sets and held the 49ers under .100 in two sets as well.
 
The Vikings had a big day at the net as well, combining for 12.0 blocks. The Portland State middle combination of sophomores Katy Wilson and Mikaelyn Sych came up huge. Wilson led all players with seven blocks (1-6). Sych added five of her own (1-4). In all, the Vikings had six players record a block.
 
"Pots (Pati Anae) had an unconscious day, she went bonkers," Seemann added. "Including coming up with the match-winning kill. I couldn't have been more pleased."
 
Senior OH Pati Anae had the hot hand early and often for the Vikings on the outside. She started the match 5-for-5 and ended up leading all players with 19 kills, just two shy of her Portland State career high. Not only did she rack-up the kills, she did it at a high percentage. She hit .425 on the match with just two errors.
 
Freshman OH Caitlin Bettenay had a terrific Portland State debut with 16 kills on a match-high 48 attempts. She also posted 10 digs for her first career double-double. She added four blocks and an ace just for good measure.
 
Portland State has prided itself over the years with its tough serving. The Vikings got the 2016 season off to a good start with nine service aces to just six errors. Sophomore DS Haley Glass recorded a team-high three aces in her first action on the Park Blocks.
 
Junior L Tasha Bojanic put together a great first match of the year with 17 digs. She narrowly missed a double-double with nine assists.
 
A lot of the credit to the Vikings success spreading the ball around on the offensive side of the net can be directly contributed to junior S Kylie Copple. She finished the match with 39 assists, eight digs, three blocks, two kills, and two aces. She did a tremendous job distributing the ball around as each outside hitter had at least 35 attempts.
 
The Vikings came out on fire in the first set going up 5-1. After Long Beach State cut the lead to just one point, the Vikings went on another run to go up 12-6. The Vikings went up 17-12 on a kill from Bettenay and continued to go on the attack, winning the first set 25-18.
 
Portland State ran away with the second set, winning 25-14, to go up two sets to none. The Vikings hit a match-high .375 in the set.
 
Long Beach State made some adjustments and came out aggressively in the third set. A lot of the unforced errors that the 49ers committed over the first two sets were cleaned up in the third. The set stayed close before an 8-1 run by LBSU made the score 21-13. The 49ers closed out the set and won 25-18.
 
The 49ers once again opened the fourth set well, going up 4-0. They held a narrow advantage through much of the set. Long Beach State went up 17-12 before the Vikings went on an 8-1 run of their own to take their first lead of the set and gave them a 21-18 lead. Two points by the 49ers pulled them within one.
 
Long Beach State took four of the next six points to go up 24-23, forcing set-point. Anae tied the set with another big kill. She then gave the Vikings the lead with another. A 49er kill once again tied the set before back-to-back kills by Bettenay and Anae secured the 27-25 win for the Vikings.
 
The win gives the Vikings their first opening match win since they defeated Gonzaga in straight-sets in 2013.
 
Portland State will be back at it again Saturday with a pair of matches at the Stott Center. The Vikings will take on Colorado at 9:30 a.m. PT before taking on Texas Tech at 7:30 p.m.