PORTLAND, Ore. - For the first time this season, the Portland State volleyball team will not have to leave the Rose City to complete as they take part in the Nike Invitational hosted by cross-town rival Portland. The Vikings and Pilots open the invitational on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Chiles Center. Portland State will take on CSUN, for the second time this season, on Friday, Sept. 15 before closing out non-conference action against UTEP on Saturday, Sept. 16.
LIVE VIDEO: A live video stream will be available for all three matches at the Nike Invitational. A link can be found on the volleyball schedule page on GoViks.com.
LIVE STATS: Every match this week will feature live stats. 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 TIME OUT: The Vikings had their roughest weekend of the season, going 1-2 at the UC Davis Invitational. Portland State opened with a four-set win over host UC Davis before suffering a pair of three-set losses to Santa Clara and Boise State.
SO OH
Caitlin Bettenay led the Vikings with 3.44 kills per set on the weekend but the majority of those came in the win over the Aggies. She posted a career-high 22 kills along with a career-high 16 digs for her team-best fourth double-double of the year. JR DS/L
Haley Glass had 4.89 digs per set to lead the Vikings.
Going into the weekend, Portland State was 19th in the country with 2.90 blocks per set as a team. Over the three matches at the UC Davis Invitational, that number dipped to 1.40 blocks per set.
STORY LINES
- Portland State is 6-3 overall this season and have the second-best non-conference record of any Big Sky Conference school.
- Portland State is going for its second win of the season against CSUN. The Vikings opened the season with a four-set win over the Matadors at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego, Calif.
- Portland State is 33-19 all-time against Portland, 12-12 all-time CSUN, and 2-1 against UTEP.
- Head Coach Michael Seemann is a combined 6-5 against the three opponents.
- Portland State is 5-5 in its last 10 matches against Portland and is looking for its first road win in the series since 2005.
SCOUTING PORTLAND
- Portland is 7-2 overall this season and 2-1 at home on the year. The Pilots went 17-13 overall and finished tied for third in the West Coast Conference with a 10-8 record in 2016.
- Portland returns eight letterwinners and adds six newcomers to last year's squad.
- Portland hosted the North Harbour Marriott Challenge earlier this season where it picked up wins over Fresno State (3-1) and Alabama State (3-0) before falling to Oregon State (3-1).
- Portland went 3-0 to start the season at the Rumble in the Rockies hosted by Wyoming. After going 2-1 at home, the Pilots went 2-1 again with wins over Northern Colorado (3-1) and UT Arlington (3-0) with a five-set loss at New Mexico in between.
- Portland is hitting .232 on the year, while holding opponents to a .178 hitting mark. The Pilots are averaging 14.3 kills, 13.2 assists, 1.6 aces, 15.1 digs, and 1.6 blocks per set.
- Reghan Pukis (145 kills) and Hannah Troutman (130) are both over 100 kills on the season. Pukis leads the team with 4.26 kills per set on the year.
SCOUTING CSUN
- CSUN is 5-4 overall on the year and 1-2 at neutral-site matches. The Matadors went 11-12 overall and went 7-9 to finish fifth in the Big West Conference in 2016.
- CSUN and Portland State opened the season at the Aztec Invitational with the Vikings taking the match by scores of 25-18, 27-25, 23-25, and 25-22.
- Portland State hit .250 in the match and tallied 14.0 blocks as a team. JR OH Jenna Mullen recorded a team-high 13 kills, while JR MB Mikaelyn Sych posted a career-high 12.0 blocks (0-12).
- CSUN went 1-2 over the opening weekend before going 3-0 th e next week with wins over Weber State (3-0), Pepperdine (3-1), and Northeastern (3-0). The Matadors went 1-2 last weekend.
- Aeryn Owens leads the team with 4.63 kills per set and is second on the team with 2.89 digs per set.
- Owens recorded a double-double with a match-high 15 kills along with 11 digs in the first meeting.
SCOUTING UTEP
- UTEP is 3-6 overall this season and 0-2 in neutral-site matches. The Miners went 8-22 overall and 5-9 to finish eighth in Conference USA action in 2016.
- UTEP opened the season 0-4 before picking up its first win against Youngstown State in five sets. After losing to North Dakota in straight sets, the Miners picked up wins over Samford and Delaware State before losing to Abilene Christian in five sets.
- Macey Austin leads the team with 112 kills and 3.29 kills per set on the year.
- Amanda King and Sahara Martinez are averaging 9.13 and 7.19 assists per set respectively.
QUICK HITS
WINS, LOSSES, AND THE BIG SKY
- Portland State is 6-3 this season, 0-0 at home, 2-1 on the road, and 4-2 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 1117-515-5 all-time and 299-307 during DI play.
- As a member of the Big Sky Conference (1996-2017), PSU is 168-166 all-time in league matches, 103-64 at home, and 65-102 in road matches.
- Portland State has 10 winning seasons in 21 years as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
- Michael Seemann (184-123 overall, 119-49 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.
BIG SKY PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: SO OH
Caitlin Bettenay and JR MB
Mikaelyn Sych were named the Big Sky Conference's Offensive and Co-Defensive Player of the Week respectively after leading the Vikings to a perfect 3-0 record at the Gonzaga Invitational. It was the first honor for both.
Bettenay averaged 4.55 kills and 2.73 digs per set over the three matches. Sych averaged 2.36 kills and 2.45 blocks per set, while hitting .429 for the weekend.
TOP OF THE PACK: Through three weeks of action, the Vikings have emerged as one of the top programs in the Big Sky Conference. Portland State is second in the league in hitting percentage (.238), assists (12.23), and kills (13.06) and are fifth in blocks (2.42) and service aces (1.42). Individually, four Vikings are in the top 10 in the Big Sky standings:
BLOCK PARTY: Portland State opened the season with 14.0 blocks against the CSUN Matadors, the most since the Vikings tallied 16.0 against Idaho in 2014. The Vikings added 15.0 blocks and 14.0 blocks in wins over Nevada (9/1) and Gonzaga (9/2) respectively.
NET DEFENDER: JR MB
Mikaelyn Sych is having a career year for the Vikings, especially at the net. She is second in the Big Sky Conference, and 13th in the nation, with 1.61 blocks per set on the year. Her 50.0 blocks is 17th overall in the country. Through nine matches Sych has already tallied three double-digit block performances. 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.
ALL-AZTEC INVITATIONAL TEAM: After leading the Vikings to a 2-1 record at the Aztec Invitational, SO OH
Caitlin Bettenay and SR S
Erin Clark were named to the All-Tournament Team. Bettenay led the Vikings with 3.50 kills per set over the three matches, while adding 2.20 digs per set along with four blocks and a pair of aces. After splitting time as the Vikings setter for the first five sets of the season, Clark played as the Vikings' primary setter over the final five. For the weekend, Clark averaged 8.9 assists and 2.1 digs per set along with a team-high four aces.
ACES, VIKINGS, ACES: Portland State tallied nine aces in their win against Eastern Kentucky to close out the Aztec Invitational. After recording two aces over the first two sets, the Vikings rattled off seven aces, including three by JR MB
Katy Wilson over the course of one service rotation. Five different players recorded aces in the third set alone.
ROLLING TO VICTORY: The Vikings closed out their match with Eastern Kentucky with a 25-7 win to sweep the Colonels. It was the first time since 2014 that the Vikings held an opponent to single-digit points in a set and the fewest points allowed in a set since scoring moved to 25 points for the 2018 season.
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.
