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PORTLAND, Ore. — Still down to just 10 players, the Portland State volleyball team got swept by a talented Northern Arizona team, 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-14) Thursday, in the Vikings' first Big Sky home match in the new Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings (1-14, 0-3 Big Sky) faced an uphill battle against the Lumberjacks (10-6, 2-1 Big Sky) Thursday with key starters Jenna Mullen and Parker Webb still among four players out with injury. Additionally, the Lumberjacks posted the most impressive win of any Big Sky team during the non-conference season with a 3-2 win over then-No. 8 Florida on Sept. 7.
 
The Lumberjacks played like the team that beat the eighth-ranked Gators Thursday, as they hit .361 for the match with 45 kills against only six errors. The Lumberjacks distributed the offense well, too, as no player finished with more than 10 kills but four players finished with eight or more kills in Abby Akin (9), Kaylie Jorgenson (9), Ryann Davis (8) and Heaven Harris (8).
 
The Lumberjacks came out hot in the first set, hitting .371 as a team en route to a 25-13 win in the frame.
 
The Vikings responded well at the start of the second set, and stayed level with the Lumberjacks through the first half of the frame. No team led by more than one point until a 3-0 NAU run midway through made it 16-13 in favor of the Lumberjacks.
 
Sophomore Maddy Reeb and senior Katy Wilson combined for the Vikings' only block of the match to end the 3-0 run for the Lumberjacks, and the Lumberjacks followed with an attack error to get the Vikings back within one at 16-15. NAU responded with a 5-0 run to stretch its lead to 21-15, however, with two of the five points coming on service aces.
 
The Vikings took three of the next four points between kills from Toni McDougald, Peyton McBride and Whitney Turner, but the Lumberjacks matched points with the Vikings from there and eventually took the set, 25-20.
 
NAU then closed out the match with a dominant performance in the third set in which they did not commit a single attack error.
 
Peyton McBride was a bright spot for the Vikings in the match, as she returned to the lineup after missing the team's matches against Montana State and Montana with an illness. McBride led the Vikings with six kills in the match, but was a bigger boon to the back row for the Vikings as she finished second on the team with 11 digs.
 
Reeb also had another good all-around performance for the Vikings, as she floated between playing on the outside and at setter for the Vikings like she did against Montana State last Thursday. Reeb led the Vikings with 15 assists in the match while also posting five kills, seven digs and a block assist. Mary Jo McBride, who came on at setter when Reeb shifted to the outside finished with 11 assists against the Lumberjacks.
 
Senior Hadley Heck, meanwhile, started her fifth straight match at libero, and led the Vikings with 14 digs in the match. Heck has averaged 4.8 digs per set since she started her first match at libero against Colorado State at the Colorado Classic on Sept. 15.
 
The Vikings return to the court Saturday, when they host Southern Utah at 1 p.m. (PT) at the Viking Pavilion. The Thunderbirds took a set off Sacramento State Thursday, but lost 3-1 to the Hornets to fall to 1-14 overall and 0-3 in Big Sky play.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings fell to 20-27 all time against Northern Arizona with Thursday's loss…The Lumberjacks have won 10 of their last 11 matches against the Vikings…The new student section, nicknamed "The Ship", made up the majority of the Vikings' crowd Thursday.