BOX SCORE - PDF | HTML

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State volleyball team will get no reward for its ambition when it scheduled the 2018 season, but it deserves it.
 
The Vikings fell to 1-5 in the early going of 2018 after losing 3-0 to UC Davis in the final match of the Rose City Showdown Saturday at the Viking Pavilion. Three of the Vikings' five losses have come against 2017 postseason teams in Oregon, Oregon State and Boise State, while another came against five-time national champion Long Beach State.
 
UC Davis (4-2) did not make the 2017 postseason, but gave Oregon State a tough match to start off the Rose City Showdown Friday afternoon, and swept Utah Valley, Holy Cross and Nevada to start the season.
 
The Vikings became the Aggies' fourth victim of a sweep this season, after the Aggies outhit the Vikings .217-to-.118, and out-blocked and out-dug the Vikings 9.0-to-3.0 and 55-to-45, respectively.
 
A poor first set put the Vikings behind early in the match, just as it did in the Vikings' last two matches against Oregon and Oregon State. The Aggies recorded 18 kills against only five errors while hitting .325 in the first set. The Vikings, meanwhile, recorded five kills against five errors, giving them a .000 hitting percentage in the set.
 
The Vikings played much better in the second set, and even outhit the Aggies .212-to-.156 in the frame. The Vikings still had to play catch-up in the middle of the set, however, and trailed 20-15 after a service error gave the Aggies a five-point lead late.
 
Senior Katy Wilson ended the Aggie run with a cross-court kill that made it 20-16, while fellow senior Jenna Mullen recorded a solo block on UC Davis' Alexa Rockas to make it 20-17. Mullen got the Vikings within one at 20-19 a few points later when she went off the block on the left side for a kill. Mullen had four of her team-high eight kills in the second set, and only committed one error after hitting into three in the first set.
 
UC Davis responded to the Vikings' late run, however, as a PSU block error, UC Davis service ace and a solo block for UC Davis' Leonie Strehl turned a one-point UC Davis lead into a four-point lead at 23-19. Mullen came back with another kill to make it 23-20, but Strehl and Lauren Jackson followed with kills for the Aggies to close out the set.
 
The Vikings again had to play catch-up at the start of the third set, but got within two at 12-10 when Wilson converted a back set from sophomore setter Maddy Reeb. Wilson also had a kill two points earlier for the Vikings, and finished with four kills in the third set – her best total of the match. Wilson finished second to Mullen with seven kills for the Vikings in the match, and hit a team-best .375 while committing only one error.
 
Wilson's play helped the Vikings get within one at 13-12, but errors cost the Vikings over the next few points as a bad set, receiving error and an attack error contributed to a 5-0 Aggie run that made it 18-12. The Vikings didn't get closer than four points the rest of the way, and the Aggies' Emily Allen closed out the third set at 25-20 with the final of her match-high 12 kills.
 
Junior transfer Mary Jo McBride saw her first action of the season in the match, and finished tied with Reeb with 12 assists in the match. Senior Haley Glass also saw her first action at libero, which she started at in the third set, and tied freshman Mackenzie Sullivan for the team lead in digs with 10 each.
 
The Vikings remain home for the final of three home tournaments next weekend, as they host Cal, Fresno State and Gonzaga for the Les Schwab West Coast Challenge, Sept. 7-8. The Vikings will open the tournament with a match against Fresno State at 10 a.m. on Sept. 7.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings still lead the all-time series between them and the Aggies, 13-2, despite Saturday's loss…Timi Severson made her debut for the Vikings in the match, and recorded a solo block in the third set.