Vikings Take Winning Streak to UC Davis

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Portland State is off to its best start since the 2003 season after going 3-0 last weekend at the Gonzaga Invitational. The Vikings take their 5-1 record to the UC Davis Invitational where they open up with the Aggies on Friday, Sept. 8 at 12 p.m. PT. They take on Santa Clara later that night before closing play with Boise State on Saturday, Sept. 9.

LIVE VIDEO: A live video stream will be available for the match against UC Davis only. 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 went a perfect 3-0 to take the Gonzaga Invitational title. They opened with four-set wins over Nevada and Arizona State before concluding with a commanding three-set win over host Gonzaga. The Vikings hit .288 and averaged 14.55 kills, 13.91 assists, 1.55 service aces, 13.82 digs, and an astounding 3.27 blocks per set over the three matches.
Portland State's win over Arizona State was its second-straight win over the Sun Devils and the third win for the Vikings over a Pacific-12 Conference opponent. The Vikings defeated Colorado and Arizona State in 2016.
SO OH Caitlin Bettenay was named the tournament's most valuable player after lead the Vikings with 4.55 kills and 2.73 digs per set. She tallied a pair of double-doubles and set career highs in kills (20) and digs (15) against Nevada.
JR MB Mikaelyn Sych continues to be a force for the Vikings in the middle. She tallied 2.36 kills and 2.45 blocks per set at the Gonzaga Invitational. Sych recorded 27 total blocks (6-21) including a pair of 10.0 block performances against Nevada (9/1) and Gonzaga (9/2). She tallied seven blocks against the Sun Devils, including a career-high three solo blocks.

STORY LINES
• Portland State is 5-1 on the season, its best start to a season since the Vikings opened 9-1 in 2003.
• Portland State is 12-1 all-time against UC Davis, 5-1-1 against Santa Clara, and 16-7 against Boise State.
• Portland State and Boise State have met each of the last nine season, with Boise State leading 5-4 over that stretch. Boise State has won three straight in the series.
• Portland State is one win away from tying its longest winning streak (5) from last season.
• This week's opponents are 3-1 against Big Sky Conference teams this year.

SCOUTING UC DAVIS
• UC Davis is 4-3 overall this, 0-1 at home, 1-1 on the road, and 3-1 at a neutral site. The Aggies opened their home slate with a five-set loss to Sacramento State.
• UC Davis began the year with a 3-1 victory over Eastern Washington en route to a 3-0 opening weekend at the UNLV Invitational. Eastern Washington took the first set before UC Davis won the next three. The Aggies held the Eagles to an .042 hitting mark.
• The Aggies then went 1-2 at the Pioneer Classic hosted by the University of Denver.
• UC Davis is hitting .229 on the year, while holding opponents to a .147 hitting mark. The Aggies are averaging 13.1 kills, 12.1 assists, 14.1 digs, and 2.9 blocks per set.
• JR OH Emily Allen leads the Aggies with 53 kills and is averaging 2.65 kills per set. She is adding 2.45 digs per set. She has three double-digit kill matches with one double-double.
• FR OH Mahalia White is the only other Aggie with multiple double-digit kill matches on the year.

SCOUTING SANTA CLARA
• Santa Clara is 3-3 on the year. The Broncos opened the year with back-to-back five-set wins over American University and Georgetown before falling in four sets to Howard. They then went 1-2 at the Washington Invitational.
• Santa Clara is hitting .201 for the year with 11.74 kills, 10.87 assists, 14.22 digs, and 1.78 blocks per set. Opponents are hitting .221 with 12.43 kills per set.
• SO OH Michelle Gajdka leads the team with 3.26 kills per set. She is hitting .190 and has a team-high 205 total attacks. She is averaging 2.13 digs per set.
• SR MB Jensen Cunningham is second on the team with 2.61 kills per set and leads the Broncos with 19 total blocks on the year.

SCOUTING BOISE STATE
• Boise State is 4-2 overall on the year after going 2-1 at the Sun Devil Classic and the Boise State Invitational. The Broncos opened the year with a straight-set win over North Dakota State.
• Boise State has two wins over Big Sky Conference opponents. The Broncos defeated Weber State in four sets and went to five before defeating Sacramento State at home last weekend.
• Boise State had four players with double-digit kills and four with double-digit digs in its win over Weber State.
• Boise State went to five sets with Sacramento State and won the fifth set 18-16. SR OH Sierra Nobley recorded a match-high 32 kills on 81 swings against the Hornets. Her 32 kills are the fourth-most by a player in the country this season.
• Nobley is fourth in the nation with 5.29 kills per set. She is second in the nation with 14.62 attacks per set and fifth with 5.81 points per set. Her 111 kills to date is 19th overall in the country.

QUICK HITS
WINS, LOSSES, AND THE BIG SKY
• Portland State is 5-1 this season, 0-0 at home, 1-1 on the road, and 4-0 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 1116-513-5 all-time and 298-305 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 (183-121 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.

LEADING THE WAY: Through two weeks of action, the Vikings have emerged as one of the top programs in the Big Sky Conference. Portland State leads the league in hitting percentage (.279), assists (12.95), kills (13.52), and blocks (2.90). The Vikings are also third in opponent hitting percentage (.195) and service aces per set (1.67). Individually, four Vikings hold the top spot in Big Sky rankings:
• JR MB Katy Wilson leads the league with a .487 hitting mark
• SO OH Caitlin Bettenay leads the league with 4.05 kills per set.
• SR S Erin Clark leads the league with 10.57 assists per set.
• JR MB Mikaelyn Sych leads the league with 2.14 blocks per set.

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 leads the Big Sky Conference, and is second in the nation, with 2.14 blocks per set on the year. Her 45.0 blocks is fourth overall in the country. Through six 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.

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