Vikings Continue Home Stand with Bears, Fighting Hawks

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The Vikings continue their five-match home stand this week by hosting Northern Colorado on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. and North Dakota on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. Both matches will be played at Concordia University.
Northern Colorado comes into action this week with a 9-8 overall mark and is fifth in the conference overall, and third in the Big Sky North, with a 2-2 record. North Dakota leads the Big Sky with a 19-2 overall mark and is one of two teams with a perfect 4-0 Big Sky mark. The Fighting Hawks play at Sacramento State, the other undefeated Big Sky team, Thursday in Sacramento before coming to the Rose City Saturday.

LIVE VIDEO: A live video stream will be available for both matches this week on Watch Big Sky powered by Pluto.tv.

LIVE STATS: Both matches this week will feature live stats via StatBroadcast. Links can be found on the Volleyball schedule page on GoViks.com.

FOLLOW THE VIKINGS: Fans can follow the Vikings on Twitter. Follow @ViksVB for all the latest news, notes, and behind the scenes photos. Follow @PSU_Vikings for the latest on all 15 Portland State Athletics programs.

LAST WEEK: Portland State opened play last week with its sixth consecutive sweep with a three-set win of the Montana State Bobcats in Bozeman, Mont. The win also made it 22 consecutive wins over the Bobcats. Portland State took the match by scores of 25-13, 27-25, and 25-18. SO OH Toni McDougald put together her best match of the season with 11 kills and a .500 hitting percentage (11-0-22). SO OH Caitlin Bettenay added her 12th double-digit kill performance of the year with 10 kills, along with four digs and three blocks in the win. SR S Erin Clark recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 38 assists and 12 digs. SR DS/L Tasha Bojanic tallied her first 20-dig match of the year with 22.
Portland State's six-match winning streak came to an abrupt end with a three-set loss at home to Sacramento State last Saturday. The teams went toe-to-toe throughout the match but late runs by the Hornets in each set gave them the separation they needed to take the match. Bojanic seemed to dig every ball that came her way, tallying 10 digs in the opening set and finishing with a season-high 23 (7.67 digs per set). Bettenay led all players with 13 kills in the match, while McDougald and FR OH Parker Webb each added eight.

STORY LINES

Portland State is 12-4 overall, which matches its best record through 16 matches since moving to the NCAA Division I level prior to the 1996 season. The Vikings also went 12-4 in 2007 and 2008.
Portland State's 9-3 non-conference record is the best under 11th-year Head Coach Michael Seemann and the team's third best over the last 15 years.
Portland State won six consecutive matches via sweeps earlier this season. It was the longest three-set winning streak for the Vikings since they won eight straight in 2009.
Portland State is in the midst of a critical Big Sky Conference stretch. Starting with last week's match against Sacramento State, the Vikings take on four of the top six teams in the league in consecutive home matches: Sacramento State, Northern Colorado, North Dakota, Northern Arizona.
Portland State is 19-13 all-time against Northern Colorado and 9-4 against the Bears at home.
Northern Colorado has taken each of the last four matches, all in straight sets. Portland State's last win came at home in 2013.
Portland State is 5-4 in nine all-time meetings with North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks are 4-3 against the Vikings since joining the Big Sky prior to the 2012 season.
The teams split the series in 2012 and 2013 before the scheduling moved to the two teams meeting just once a year. PSU and UND have alternated wins over the last five matches with UND taking the only meeting last season in Grand Forks, ND in four sets.

SCOUTING NORTHERN COLORADO

Northern Colorado comes into play this week 9-8 overall and 2-2 in Big Sky Conference play after splitting both conference weekends. The Bears are 2-2 in road games.
Northern Colorado opened league with a five-set win at Northern Arizona before falling in three sets at home to North Dakota. The Bears defeated Eastern Washington in four sets and lost to Idaho in three sets at home last week.
Northern Colorado is hitting .208, sixth in the league, while holding opponents to a .173 hitting mark, second in the league. The Bears are in the bottom third of the Big Sky in blocks (10th, 1.95 blocks per set), aces (8th, 1.25 aces per set), and digs (9th, 14.07 digs per set).
Northern Colorado does not have a player in the top 10 in the Big Sky in hitting percentage, kills per set, and blocks per set.
JR OH Kortney Lockey leads the team with 3.00 kills per set. She has 10 double-digit kill performances on the year, including a 22-kill performance in a win over Northern Arizona. She has tallied double-digit kills in each Big Sky match.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA

North Dakota enters play this week with an impressive 19-2 overall mark and is one of two undefeated Big Sky Conference teams left at 4-0. The Fighting Hawks, in their last season as a Big Sky opponent, opens the week at Sacramento State, the other 4-0 Big Sky team.
North Dakota won the Big Sky Conference in 2016 with a 14-2 mark. The Fighting Hawks then won the Big Sky tournament with straight-set wins over Idaho, Idaho State, and Northern Arizona before falling at No. 1 Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
North Dakota opened the season 4-0 before picking up its first loss at Georgia Tech. The Fighting Hawks rattled off nine-straight wins before losing to Cal Poly in straight sets. They have won each of their last six, including their first four Big Sky matches.
North Dakota is hitting .236 on the year, while holding opponents to a league-best .150. The Fighting Hawks are second in the Big Sky with 13.35 kills per set.
Faith Dooley leads the team with 3.32 kills and 1.41 blocks per set on the year. She has won three Big Sky Player of the Week awards, one offensive and two defensive, and is the reigning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week.
Tamara Merseli is second on the team with 2.91 kills per set and is third with 3.55 digs per set.

QUICK HITS
WINS, LOSSES, AND THE BIG SKY

Portland State is 12-4 this season, 2-1 at home, 4-1 on the road, and 6-2 at a neutral site.
Portland State will play all of its home games this season at Concordia University.
Portland State is in its 22nd season playing at the NCAA Division I level (1996-2017).
Portland State is 1123-515-5 all-time and 308-308 during DI play.
As a member of the Big Sky Conference (1996-2017), PSU is 171-167 (.506) all-time in league matches, 105-65 (.618) at home, and 66-102 (.393) in road matches.
Portland State has 10 winning seasons in 21 years as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
Michael Seemann (191-124 overall, 122-50 Big Sky) is the Vikings' third head coach in the Big Sky Conference era.
The Vikings have won five Big Sky regular season championships (2007, 09, 10, 12, & 13) along with a pair of Big Sky tournament championships (2008 & 2010) earning them their first two NCAA Division I tournament berths.

ANCHORING THE DEFENSE: SR DS/L Tasha Bojanic had a slow start to the season but has come on strong over the past few weeks. In her last seven matches, all three-setters, Bojanic has tallied no-less-than 15 digs per match and has tallied back-to-back 20-dig three-set matches. Over that stretch, she has tallied 132 of her 193 total digs on the year and is averaging 6.29 digs per set. She has also tallied a team high eight aces over that stretch. Bojanic opened the match with Sacramento State with 10 digs in the first set alone before finishing with a season-high 23.

NET DEFENDER: JR MB Mikaelyn Sych is having a career year for the Vikings, especially at the net. She leads the Big Sky Conference, and is 9th in the nation, with 1.56 blocks per set on the year. Her 81.0 blocks is 25th overall in the country. Sych has tallied three double-digit block performances this season. She became the first Vikings with double-digit blocks since Katie O'Brien in 2014 and the first with multiple double-digit block matches in a season since O'Brien had three such performances in 2011. The last Viking with four double-digit block matches in a season was Michelle Segun (Robertson) in 2007.

BLOCK PARTY: Portland State has established itself as one of the top blocking teams in the Big Sky, and the nation. The Vikings have tallied double-digit blocks six times this season, including four times during a three-set match. They opened the year with 14.0 blocks against the CSUN Matadors. PSU tallied 15.0 blocks in a four-set win over Nevada (9/1), its most blocks since tallying 16.0 in 2014. Portland State is averaging 2.60 blocks per set on the year, third in the Big Sky. It is the Vikings best blocking mark since averaging 2.66 in 2011.

SERVING TOUGH: Serving tough has been a strength for Portland State over the years. Serving tough and not giving away points is something that the Vikings are doing exceptionally well this season. They have tallied 78 service aces (1.50 aces per set) while committing just 70 service errors. The Vikings' 1.11 aces-to-errors ratio is the third best in program history and best since averaging a program best 1.58 aces-to-errors in 2013. (Return error numbers for PSU are unavailable from 1989-1998 and 2000-2002).

HIGH HITTING: Portland State has led the Big Sky Conference in hitting percentage nearly the entire 2017 season. The Vikings are currently hitting a team-high .246 on the year. It is the best hitting mark under 11th-year Head Coach Michael Seemann and is on pace to set the Portland State Division I (1996-2017) hitting mark. The Vikings hit .237 in both 2009 and 2005.

SOPHOMORE SLUMP?: SO OH Caitlin Bettenay is having a strong sophomore campaign. She leads Portland State, and is second in the Big Sky Conference, with 3.94 kills per set on the year. That is 1.39 kills per set above her average from a year ago. Bettenay tallied 196 kills through 77 sets in 2016 and leads the team with 197 kills through 50 sets this season.

BRING OUT THE BROOMS: Portland State won six consecutive matches all via three-set sweeps from Sept. 13 (Portland) to Sept. 28 (Montana State). It was the Vikings' longest stretch of sweep wins since they won eight straight in 2009.

ROLLING TO VICTORY: Portland State has closed out a pair of sweeps this season by holding its opponent to less than 10 points in the final frame. The Vikings swept Eastern Kentucky by taking the third set 25-7 on Aug. 26 before sweeping Weber State with a 25-6 win in the third on Sept. 23. The seven points allowed against EKU was the first time since 2014 that PSU held an opponent to single-digit points in a set. The six points allowed against WSU are the fewest allowed in a set since scoring moved to 25 points for the 2008 season.

TOP OF THE SKY: Portland State leads the league in hitting percentage (.246), assists per set (12.88), kills per set (13.65), and service aces per set (1.50). The Vikings are third in blocks per set (2.49) and opponent hitting percentage (.197). Individually, five Vikings are in the top 10 in the Big Sky standings:

JR MB Mikaelyn Sych leads the Big Sky with 1.56 blocks per set (and is 9th in the nation).
SO OH Caitlin Bettenay is second with 3.94 kills per set.
JR MB Katy Wilson is second with a .394 hitting mark.
SR S Erin Clark is second with 11.44 assists per set.
SR DS/L Tasha Bojanic is 5th with 4.29 digs per set.

BIG SKY PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Portland State has had three players earn Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors.
SO OH Caitlin Bettenay - Offensive POTW (Sept. 4) - Led the Vikings to a perfect 3-0 record at the Gonzaga Invitational. Averaged 4.55 kills and 2.73 digs per set over the three matches.
JR MB Mikaelyn Sych - Defensive POTW (Sept. 4) - Led the Vikings to a perfect 3-0 record at the Gonzaga Invitational. Averaged 2.36 kills and 2.45 blocks per set, while hitting .429 for the weekend.
SR DS/L Tasha Bojanic - Defensive POTW (Sept. 18) - Led the Vikings to their second perfect 3-0 weekend with three straight sweeps. Averaged 6.11 digs per set over the three matches.

2017 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Aug. 25 - Portland State picked up its first win of the season, a four-set win over CSUN. It was the second-straight year won their opener. Junior MB Mikaelyn Sych tallied a career-high 12 blocks becoming the first Viking since Katie O'Brien to record double-digit blocks.
Aug. 26 - SO OH Caitlin Bettenay and SR S Erin Clark were named to the All-Aztec Invitational team after PSU went 2-1 with wins over CSUN and Eastern Kentucky.
Sept. 2 - Portland State defeated Arizona State for the second straight season. It was Portland State's third consecutive win over a Pac-12 Conference opponent.
Sept. 2 - Portland State defeated Gonzaga to improve to 5-1, its best start since 2003.
Sept. 2 - SO OH Caitlin Bettenay and SR MB Katy Wilson were named to the Gonzaga Invitational All-Tournament Team. Bettenay was also named the Tournament MVP.
Sept. 4 - SO OH Caitlin Bettenay and JR MB Mikaelyn Sych were named Big Sky Offensive and Co-Defensive Player of the Week respectively.
Sept. 9 - SO OH Caitlin Bettenay was named to the UC Davis All-Tournament Team.
Sept. 16 - Swept the Nike Invitational with three-consecutive sweeps of Portland, CSUN, and UTEP.
Sept. 16 - Erin Clark was named the All-Nike Invitational MVP while Katy Wilson and Tasha Bojanic were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Sept. 23 - Portland State defeated Weber State in straight sets for its fifth-consecutive sweep. The Vikings defeated the Wildcats 25-6 in the third set, the fewest points allowed by PSU since scoring went to 25 points in 2008.
Sept. 23 - Portland State improved to 11-3 for the second time in its Division I history (2008).
Sept. 28 - Portland State improved swept Montana State for its sixth-consecutive sweep and improved to 12-3 for the second time in Division I history (2008).
Sept. 30 - SR DS/L Tasha Bojanic recorded a season-high 23 digs (7.67 digs per set) in a three-set loss to Sacramento State.