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PORTLAND, Ore. — If the Portland State volleyball team can bottle what it did in the third set against Eastern Washington Saturday afternoon, then the rest of the season will be a cake walk. The Vikings hit .652 with 15 kills on 23 attacks and no errors, giving them a crucial set victory that led to a 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 25-12, 25-23) win over Eastern Washington at the Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings (5-21, 4-10 Big Sky) hadn't hit over .600 in a set in two years, as the last time came against Montana State on Sept. 29, 2016, when they hit .609. The Vikings hadn't hit better than .652 in a set since Aug. 30, 2013, when they hit .667 (15-1-21) in a set against Gonzaga.
 
Most importantly, Saturday's win over the Eagles (8-18, 0-14 Big Sky) kept the Vikings in the hunt for a Big Sky tournament spot with four matches remaining in the regular season. The Vikings sit 1.5 games back of Montana and Montana State, which rank tied for seventh in the standings and will both play later tonight. The Vikings also lead Southern Utah for ninth place in the Big Sky by half a game now. The top eight teams in the conference make the Big Sky tournament, which will take place in Greeley, Colo., Nov. 22-24.
 
It didn't start well for the Vikings Saturday, as the Vikings committed 11 attack errors in the first set while being outhit .304-to-.000. The Vikings and Eagles played the polar opposite of the first set in the second, however, as the Vikings outhit the Eagles .257-to-.029 while leveling the match with a 25-17 win.
 
Blocking led the Vikings to the second-set win, as the Vikings recorded four of their six blocks in the match in the second set, after not having any blocks in the first set. Seniors Katy Wilson and Jenna Mullen combined for back-to-back blocks that gave the Vikings a 5-0 lead early in the set, and the seniors followed with a kill each to put the Vikings up 7-1 a little later.
 
The Eagles never got closer than three points of the Vikings through the rest of the second set, while the Vikings put the set away with a 7-2 run that gave them a 20-11 lead.
 
Mullen and Wilson were on form again in the third set, as they combined for 10 of the Vikings' 15 kills in the set. Wilson led the way with six kills on only seven attacks, giving her a kill percentage of .857 in the third set alone.
 
Wilson's fourth kill of the third set gave the Vikings a 15-7 lead, and ended an 8-2 PSU run that put the Vikings firmly in control. Wilson added her fifth and sixth kills of the set a little later, the latter of which put the Vikings up 19-10.
 
Mullen, meanwhile, gave the Vikings set point with her fourth kill of the third set, while a ball handling error on Eastern Washington ended the set at 25-12.
 
The Vikings again took an early lead on the Eagles in the fourth set, but the Eagles hung with the Vikings throughout the set this time. The Vikings took a 12-7 lead on a kill from freshman Peyton McBride, but the Eagles stayed within striking distance and eventually cut the Vikings' lead to one at 15-14. Sophomore setter Maddy Reeb had a kill and a service ace to give the Vikings an 18-15 lead a little later, while Mullen put the Vikings up four at 20-16 with her final kill of the match.
 
The Eagles again got back within one with a 4-1 run that made it 21-20, and were back within one at 23-22 when the Vikings called their second timeout of the set. McBride put down a kill out of the timeout that gave the Vikings match point at 24-22, and an EWU attack error two points later finished it for the Vikings at 25-23.
 
Wilson finished with 17 kills Saturday, tying the career high she set in the Vikings' first match against Eastern Washington this season on Oct. 4. Wilson also hit .462 against the Eagles Saturday, the seventh time in the Vikings' past 11 matches that she has hit over .400.
 
Mullen was one dig away from recording her sixth double-double of the season, as she posted 14 kills and nine digs. Mullen also had three service aces in the match, while the Vikings tied a season high with nine aces as a team Saturday. Besides Mullen, senior Hadley Heck also had three aces, while Wilson had two and Reeb had one.
 
Reeb, who had a double-double Thursday night against Idaho, finished with 44 assists to go with seven digs, three kills and two block assists. Reeb has recorded at least 30 assists in seven of the Vikings' last eight matches, and has now gone over 40 assists in four of those matches. Additionally, Reeb's 44 assists against the Eagles stand as her second-best total in a four-set match this season, one more than she had against Idaho on Thursday.
 
Freshman Mackenzie Sullivan led all players with 17 digs against the Eagles, her eighth straight match with at least 10 digs.
 
The Vikings hit the road for their next two matches against Idaho State and Weber State. The Vikings play the Bengals Thursday, Nov. 8, in Pocatello, Idaho, and then head to Ogden, Utah, for their match against the Wildcats Saturday, Nov. 10. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. (MT).
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improved to 30-27 all time against the Eagles with Saturday's win…The Vikings honored their 1988 team that won the program's third NCAA Division II national championship at the match…After two more matches hitting over .400 this weekend, Wilson now has a career hitting percentage of .312, 10 points higher than the current Division I career record that Lana Zielke set at .302 from 2008-10.