SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A tremendous 2017 Portland State Volleyball season came to an end Friday night as the Vikings fell to top-seeded Sacramento State in four sets in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals.
 
Sacramento State (26-8 overall) took the match by scores of 26-24, 25-15, 18-25, and 25-18 to advance to the Big Sky Championship match Saturday night against No. 2 seed North Dakota.
 
The Portland State (21-9) offense just could not get into a rhythm hitting .135, its third lowest hitting mark of the season. The Vikings tallied just 44 kills in the match, their fewest kills in a four-set match this season.
 
SO OH Toni McDougald led Portland State with 13 kills, on a career-high 62 swings, while hitting .161 for the night. She tallied 11 digs for her second-straight double-double to close out the season. She was one of five players with double-digit digs in the match as the Vikings tallied a season-high 94 digs. It was the first time since 2014 that the Vikings had five players with 10-or-more digs.
 
Leading the way in the defensive effort was SR L Tasha Bojanic. A day after being named the Big Sky's Libero of the Year, Bojanic tallied a match-high 27 digs, which moved her into third all-time at Portland State with 1,609 career digs. She ended the season with 496 digs and 5.06 digs per set.
 
SR S Erin Clark rounded out her senior season with 37 assists and 13 digs for her team-best 13th double-double of the season. She added three of the Vikings season-high 10 aces in the match. In fact, four Vikings recorded multiple aces in the match.  
 
Portland State jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the opening set. The lead did not last long as Sacramento State came back to tie it at 5-5. The Hornets took an 11-8 lead after a 5-0 run. A Sacramento State service error followed by an ace from Clark pulled the Vikings within one at 11-10.
 
After trading points the Hornets took a 15-11 lead, which forced Portland State to call a timeout. The Vikings came back and retook the lead on a 5-0 run to go up 17-16, which forced a Hornets' timeout. The Vikings went up 21-17 on a kill from SO OH Caitlin Bettenay, which forced Sacramento State's final timeout of the frame.
 
Sacramento State started to cut into the lead and but the Vikings went up 24-20 on another ace from Clark. The Vikings had three set points but could not close it out as the Hornets ended the set on a 6-0 run to win 26-24 in the first.  
 
Portland State took an early lead in the second but Sacramento State came right back to tie the set. The Hornets went on a 4-0 run to take a 16-8 lead midway through. After back-to-back points by PSU, the Hornets went on another run to go up 19-10, which forced the Vikings to take their final timeout of the frame.
 
The Hornets closed out the second on a 3-0 run to take it 25-15. Sacramento State hit .233 over the first two sets and held Portland State to a .108 hitting mark. Bettenay led the Vikings with seven kills to go along with seven digs over the first two sets.
 
Portland State jumped out to a 5-1 lead to open the third frame. The Vikings extended their lead to 11-4 on an ace from Clark. Three points later, an ace from JR OH Jenna Mullen put the Vikings up 13-5, which forced the Hornets to call their second timeout of the set.
 
The Vikings went up 21-12 before the Hornets started to chip away at the lead. They cut the lead to 23-17 before the Vikings sided out for the 25-18 win in the third to keep their comeback hopes alive.
 
Sacramento State opened the fourth set on a 6-2 run before trading points to 8-4. The Vikings came back and took the lead at 13-12 on another ace from Bojanic. The Hornets then rattled off five-straight points to go up 17-13. After a PSU timeout, the Vikings scored three-straight points to pull within one at 17-16. After a Sacramento State timeout, the Hornets countered with a 3-0 run of its own to go up 20-16.
 
Portland State pulled within three at 21-18 before the Hornets closed out the match with a 4-0 run to take the fourth set 25-18.
 
Sacramento State had three players with double-digit kills led by Sarah Davis' career-high 16 kills.
 
Portland State finished the season 21-9 overall for its 11th 20-win season in 22 years as part of the Big Sky and seventh under 11th-year Head Coach Michael Seemann.
 
NOTES:

• SR L Tasha Bojanic tallied a match-high 27 digs to close out her Portland State career with 1,609 digs, third best all-time at PSU.
• SO OH Toni McDougald recorded her second-straight double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs.
• Portland State had five players with double-digit digs for the first time since 2014.
• Portland State recorded a season-high 94 digs.
• Portland State recorded a season-high 10 aces.