PORTLAND – The Vikings rolled to a Big Sky Conference opening win over the Idaho State Bengals Thursday night at Concordia University in Portland, Ore.
 
Portland State (10-3 overall, 1-0 Big Sky) took the match by scores of 25-15, 25-13, and 25-19, while out-hitting Idaho State (3-11, 0-1) .350-to-.099.
 
"It was important to get a win here," 11th-year Head Coach Michael Seemann said of winning in the Concordia gym. "We did a good job of getting some of those jitters out and making this our home."
 
FR OH Parker Webb was nearly perfect over the first two frames and finished her first conference match with a career-high 13 kills, while hitting .632. Webb tallied 11 kills on her first 12 swings of the match with no errors. She added four blocks (0-4) to round out her all-round solid performance.
                                                                   
SO OH Caitlin Bettenay added 12 kills for the Vikings, while hitting .225. She recorded nine digs, three blocks, and came up with two of the team's seven service aces.
 
The Vikings got a lot of production out of their junior middles Katy Wilson and Mikaelyn Sych. Wilson tallied seven kills, while hitting .462 (7-1-13), with a pair of blocks. Sych added six kills, while hitting .625 (6-1-8) and recorded a match-high seven blocks (0-7). Sych leads the Big Sky with 1.63 blocks per set on the year.
 
Portland State recorded is sixth double-digit block match of the season, and the fourth in a three-set match.
 
SO OH Toni McDougald came off the bench and added six kills and a pair of digs for the Vikings.
 
Captaining the Vikings' well-balanced offense was SR S Erin Clark. She posted her team-high fifth double-double of the year with 36 assists and 12 digs. Senior DS/L Tasha Bojanic posted a team-high 15 digs, while tallying seven assists.
 
Leading by a point early in the first set, the Vikings rattled off six-straight to take a 13-6 lead. The Bengals went on a run of their own to pull within two at 16-14. From that point, it was all Portland State. The Vikings finished out the first set on a 9-1 run to take the it 25-15.
 
Bettenay and Webb each tallied four kills in the first, while Sych and McDougald added three kills each.
 
Idaho State took the first two points of the second set before the Vikings took six of the next seven to take a 6-3 lead. The teams traded points with the Vikings maintaining their three-point advantage. The Vikings took over the second set with another monster run, this time going on a 9-0 run to take a 19-9 lead.
 
ISU ended the Vikings run with back-to-back points but the Vikings took six of the final eight to win the second 25-13.
 
The Bengals had no answer for Webb in the second set. She had seven kills on seven attacks and powered the Vikings to a .500 hitting mark in the frame.
 
The Vikings took a 9-5 lead in the third set. The Bengals fought back and tied the set at 13-13. They traded points to 14-14 before the Vikings created some separation with three-straight points. After an ISU point, the PSU rattled off three more to take a 22-16 lead.
 
Idaho State fought back to make it 23-19 before a kill from Wilson and a service aces from Bettenay closed out the third for the Vikings, 25-19.
 
Bettenay, ever the model of consistency, added four kills in the frame after tallying four in each of the first two.
 
Portland State is back home again Saturday, Sept. 23 when it takes on Weber State. The Wildcats fell in four sets Thursday night at Sacramento State.
 
NOTES:

• SR S Erin Clark recorded her fifth double-double with 36 assists and 12 digs.
• FR OH Parker Webb tallied a career-high 13 kills and hit a career-high .632.
• Web started the match 11-for-12 on swings and went a perfect 7-for-7 in the second set.
• Portland State has now tallied four-consecutive sweeps, the most since sweeping eight-straight matches in 2009.