FRESNO, Calif. – Portland State improved to 3-2 on the season after splitting a pair of matches on the first day of the Bulldog Showdown in Fresno, Calif. The Vikings fell to host Fresno State in five sets before taking their second match of the day, a four-set win over the University of Portland.
 
Senior OH Pati Anae posted two more impressive performances for the Vikings. She led the team with 42 kills (4.67 kills per set) on the day while hitting .225 with a pair of service aces along with 12 digs.
 
Anae opened the day with 17 kills in the loss to Fresno State. She followed that up with 25 kills and nine digs in the team's win over Portland. She became the first Viking with multiple 20-plus kill performances in a season since Jaklyn Wheeler and Megan Ellis both did it in 2012.
 
Anae also became the first Viking with multiple 25-plus kill performances since Whitney Phillips did it in 2010. Anae racked up a career-high 28 kills in the Vikings five-set win over Colorado last weekend.
 
Sophomore OH Jenna Mullen posted a pair of double-digit kill performances on the day, giving her three on the season. She recorded 10 kills against the Bulldogs and 15 against the Pilots.
 
Match 1 – Fresno State 3, Portland State 2
 
The Vikings dug themselves too deep of an early hole to climb out of, falling in five sets to Fresno State to open the day. Portland State turned in its worst two sets of the young season to trail 2-0 heading into the break. The Vikings looked like a different team following the break and took the next two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-14 to force a decisive fifth.
 
Fresno State (5-0 overall) took control of the fifth set early, going up by three points at 7-4. Portland State (2-2) tried to close the gap but could not, falling 15-12 in the final frame.
 
The fact that the Vikings were able to push the match to a fifth set is a testament to their resiliency. Portland State was hitting -.158 for the match coming out of the break, compared to Fresno State's .421. The Vikings hit .294 in a back-and-forth third set before rolling to the fourth-set victory while hitting .417.
 
Portland State started the match with 11 attacking errors in the first set but cut that number in each of the next four, capped off with just one error in the fifth.
 
A lot of the credit for turning the hitting around goes to senior OH Pati Anae who seemed to get stronger as the match went on. She tallied 12 of her match-high 17 kills over the final three sets.  
 
The Vikings' depth proved to be a strength again against the Bulldogs, as 10th-year Head Coach Michael Seemann was able to go to his bench when a couple of starters struggled early.
 
Sophomore OH Jenna Mullen came off the bench for another double-digit kill performance, tallying 10 kills while hitting .261. She also added a pair of blocks in the contest.
 
Portland State had a difficult time hitting to start the match with five straight attacking errors. Before the Vikings knew it, they were down 8-0. Anae picked up the Vikings' first kill of the match to make it 9-2 in the first. Portland State could not dig itself out of the early hole, falling 25-12 in the opening frame.
 
Junior S Erin Clark started off the second with a service ace but the Vikings' hitting struggles continued as they fell 25-10 in the second. The 10 points scored in the frame was a season-low for the Vikings.
 
The third set was a different story for Portland State. The Vikings took the lead early, their first since Clark's ace in the second. They battled with the Bulldogs back-and-forth through much of the set with seven ties and four lead changes. Portland State built up its largest lead of the set at 16-13 and did not look back, taking it 25-22.
 
Portland State jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the fourth and went on to take the set 25-14. Anae tallied six kills in the set on nine attacks. Mullen added four more on seven swings.
 
After coming all the way back to force a fifth, the Vikings stumbled early in the set. They took the first point but then fell behind 5-3. They were down 6-4 before a service error put them three back of the Bulldogs at 7-4. Three points would be the closest they would be the rest of the set, falling 15-12 in the fifth.
 
It will be a quick turnaround for the Vikings as they will take on the Portland Pilots later in the day. That match is slated for a 5 p.m. PT start. It will be just the fifth time the two programs have met at a neutral site.
 
Match 2 – Portland State 3, Portland 1

Portland State avenged a four-set loss to Portland at home last season with a four-set win Friday. The Vikings took the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-21 respectively. After Portland took the third set 25-23, Portland State came back with a commanding 25-16 win in the fourth to take the match.
 
Anae led the Vikings with 25 kills in the match. She recorded five kills in each of the first two sets, six in the third set, and an astounding nine kills in the fourth and final set to put it away for the Vikings.
 
Clark posted her first double-double of the season with a career-high 50 assists along with 13 digs, which matched her previous career high. Junior L Tasha Bojanic posted a season-high 21 digs in the win.

"I'm really happy with how we are operating right now. Pots (Pati Anae) led us with her play today," Seemann said. "Jenna had a nice match as well. She passed well and is playing pretty big right now. Both of our defensive specialists (Haley Glass and Hadley Heck) kept us in balance tonight against a good serving team." 
 
The Vikings trailed the Pilots early in the first set. Down 20-16 the Vikings rattled off eight consecutive points behind the serving of Mullen, which included an ace, to go up 24-20. Portland put together back-to-back points before a Katy Wilson kill, her fifth of the set, gave the Vikings the 25-22 win. Wilson finished the match with a season-high 10 kills.
 
With the score tied at 9-9, the Vikings went on another long run to take a commanding 17-9 lead. Portland battled back to pull within two at 22-20 before a pair of kills from Anae, and one more from Mullen, gave PSU the 25-21 win.
 
Portland State led most of the third set but got stuck in a bad rotation late in the set which allowed Portland to come back and take it 25-23.
 
Anae and the Vikings came out in the fourth determined. They took a 4-1 lead before going up 10-5. The Vikings extended their lead to 22-10 after a 7-1 run, which included five kills from Anae. The run propelled the Vikings to a 25-16 win in the fourth to take the match.
 
Portland State hit a season-high .261 as a team against the Pilots after hitting a season-low .122 earlier in the day against Fresno State.
 
Portland State has one more match at the Bulldog Showdown. The Vikings will take on DePaul Saturday, Sept. 3 at 10 a.m. PT. DaPaul defeated Portland earlier in the day in four sets and will take on Fresno State Friday evening.
 
NOTES:
• Junior S Erin Clark posted her first double-double of the season against Portland with a career-high 50 assists along with 13 digs, which matched her previous career high.
• Sophomore MB Katy Wilson tallied a season-high 10 kills against Portland.
• Junior L Tasha Bojanic recorded a season-high 21 digs against Portland.
• Senior OH Pati Anae posted 25 kills against Portland to become the first Vikings with multiple 20-plus kill matches since Jaklyn Wheeler and Megan Ellis in 2012.
• Anae became the first Vikings with multiple 25-plus kill matches since Whitney Phillips had three in 2010.