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BOZEMAN, Mont. — Down two regular starters and traveling with only 10 players, the Portland State volleyball team nearly pulled off an all-hands-on-deck win on the road against Montana State Thursday, but the Bobcats overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat the Vikings in five sets, 3-2 (25-12, 17-25, 23-25, 26-24, 15-12).
 
The Vikings (1-12, 0-1 Big Sky) were without regular starters Peyton McBride and Parker Webb against the Bobcats (6-6, 1-0 Big Sky), and lost senior Sarah Brennan during the week in practice as well.
 
Those absences forced the Vikings to shift their lineup around quite a bit. Setters Maddy Reeb and Mary Jo McBride played alongside each other throughout the match, with Reeb shifting over to an outside hitter position at times. Senior Katy Wilson also spent time on the outside, away from her usual position at middle blocker.
 
Despite the shifts, a number of Vikings rose to the occasion, including Reeb who had an outstanding all-around game as a result of her shift to the outside with five kills, 20 assists, 11 digs and five blocks. It was the first double-double of Reeb's career at Portland State, and the sophomore added two service aces on top of it all.
 
Mary Jo McBride and fellow junior newcomer Timi Severson also saw their most extensive action of the season in the match, and posted the numbers to justify it. McBride finished with a career high in assists for the second straight match, finishing with 24 against the Bobcats. Severson, meanwhile, recorded eight kills and seven blocks for the Vikings, and hit a team-best .438 in the match with only one attack error.
 
Senior Hadley Heck also started her third straight match at libero, and went over 20 digs for the second straight match as she recorded a career-high 23 digs.
 
The Vikings' regular starters on the outside were also efficient in their work for the Vikings, as senior Jenna Mullen and junior Toni McDougald each hit over .200 while going into double-figures in kills. Mullen set a new career high for the second straight match with 21 kills against the Bobcats, while McDougald recorded her second straight double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs.
 
The Vikings looked like they could pull out the victory Thursday when they came back from a late deficit to win the third set and go up two sets to one. The Bobcats led the Vikings 21-16 late in the third set, but the Vikings won the next eight points and pulled out the set, 25-23. Reeb and McDougald each recorded two kills during the Vikings' 8-0 run, while Reeb converted her fourth kill of the set to seal it for the Vikings at 25-23.
 
The Bobcats returned the favor to the Vikings in the fourth set, however, as the Vikings led 21-16 just as the Bobcats did in the third set, only to see their opponents come back. The Bobcats scored the next four points to get within one at 21-20, and eventually took the lead at 24-23 on a combo block from Hannah Scott and Kelsie White. Mullen got the Vikings back level with a kill to make it 24-24, but Scott and Evi Wilson followed with back-to-back kills to give the set to the Bobcats, 26-24.
 
The Bobcats took control of the fifth set from the start, as they led 4-1 early, and used a 4-0 run a few points later to go up 8-3. The Vikings got back within two points at 12-10 and 13-11, but the Bobcats ended the match at 15-12 in the fifth set on a kill from Evi Wilson.
 
The Vikings played their best set of the match in the second set, when they hit .314 as a team with 14 kills against only three errors on 35 attacks. Severson helped the Vikings take control of the set, as she contributed two kills and a block assist in a 5-0 run that gave the Vikings a 10-4 lead early in the set. Mary Jo McBride gave the Vikings their biggest lead of the set at 19-11 with back-to-back service aces, and the Vikings closed out the set, 25-17.
 
The Vikings will continue on the road with a match against Montana Saturday. The Vikings face the Grizzlies at 7 p.m. (MT) in Missoula, Mont.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings fall to 43-21-1 after Thursday's loss to the Bobcats…The Vikings had won 22 straight matches against the Bobcats before Thursday's loss…Katy Wilson set a new season high with seven digs in the match…Whitney Turner set a PSU career high with five kills in the match.