Portland State University Athletics

POCATELLO, Idaho – Portland State opened the Big Sky Conference season with a three-set sweep of Idaho State, Saturday night they closed out the regular season the same way. The Vikings took down the Bengals in straight sets for their 20th win of the season.
 
Portland State (20-8 overall, 11-5 Big Sky Conference) took the match by scores of 25-19, 25-23, and 25-20. The win marked the ninth 20-win season for the Vikings since joining the Big Sky for the 1996 season and the seventh under 11th-year Head Coach Michael Seemann.
 
The win also secured the No. 4 seed for the Vikings in next week's Big Sky Volleyball Championship hosted by Sacramento State. Portland State opens with No. 5 Northern Arizona in the third quarterfinal match on Thursday, Nov. 16. The match is slated for a 4:30 p.m. PT start. The winner will face either No. 1 Sacramento State or No. 8 Northern Colorado in the semifinals.
 
JR OH Sarah Brennan led the Vikings to the win over Idaho State with her third consecutive double-digit kill match, fourth in her last five. She hit .276 with a team-high 11 kills in the match. She also tallied a pair of blocks for the Vikings.
 
Portland State got 10 kills, eight digs, a block, and an ace out of SO OH Caitlin Bettenay while getting eight kills from both JR MB Katy Wilson and SO OH Toni McDougald.
 
Bettenay's service ace put the Vikings up 7-4 early in the opening set. Idaho State came back and tied the set at 9-9 before a 5-1 run by the Vikings put them up 14-10. Once again, the Bengals came back to tie it at 17-17. Portland State closed out the first set by taking eight of the final 10 points to win 25-19.
 
With Portland State up by five early in the second set, Idaho State went on an 8-2 run to take the lead at 15-14 lead. The score bounced back-and-forth before the Bengals took a 19-18 lead. The Vikings rattled off four-straight points to go up 22-19 before Idaho State scored three straight to tie it at 22-22.
 
A pair of errors by the Bengals gave the Vikings set point at 24-22. Idaho State staved off one set point with a kill but Wilson gave the Vikings the 25-23 win in the second with a kill of her own to put the Vikings up 2-0 heading into the break.
 
A 4-1 run by Idaho State pulled the Bengals within one at 19-18 and forced Portland State to call a timeout late in the third set. After trading points out of the timeout, the Vikings took five of the final six points to win 25-20 and complete the sweep.
 
Idaho State had a pair of player tally double-digit kills led by Abby Garrity's 11. She added seven digs and a pair of blocks in the match. The Bengals tallied eight blocks compared to the Vikings' four.
 
Portland State returns home before setting out next week to open the 2017 Big Sky Volleyball Championship against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 4:30 p.m.