PORTLAND, Ore. — Down 23-19 in the second set and staring at an 0-2 hole, the Portland State volleyball team completely turned around its match against Eastern Washington Friday night. The Vikings saved three set points before winning the second set, 28-26, and then ran away with the third and fourth sets behind a resurgent Viking block that gave the Vikings a 3-1 win (16-25, 28-26, 25-12, 25-15) over the Eagles at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings (9-13, 5-6 Big Sky) finished with 15 blocks in the match, three more than they've had in any other Big Sky match this season. Eleven of the Vikings' 15 blocks came after the second set between six in the third set and five more in the fourth. Seven of freshman Julia Haynie's match-high 10 blocks came in the third and fourth sets as she doubled her previous career high Thursday night.
 
"Our middles have been working hard and it is good to see their hard work turn into point production tonight," head coach Michael Seemann said afterwards. "We have to play with our own identity from the start instead of waiting to see what the opponent will bring, but I'm proud of the way we ended up playing tonight."
 
The Vikings also matched a season high with 11 service aces against the Eagles, eight of which came in the third and fourth sets. Five of the Vikings' 11 aces came in the third set alone, while freshman Kylie Komo recorded back-to-back aces that halted a comeback attempt by the Eagles in the set.
 
In the end, the Vikings needed only seven kills to win the third set as 11 of the Vikings' 25 points in the set came on blocks or service aces.
 
The offense picked it up in the fourth set, as the Vikings recorded 15 kills without committing an attack error while hitting .385 in the set. Five of senior Toni McDougald's match-high 13 kills came in the fourth set, while Haynie and redshirt sophomore Parker Webb followed her with four kills each in the set. Haynie finished with five kills in the match, all but one of which came in the fourth set, giving her another career high in addition to her total in blocks.
 
Things weren't looking so good for the Vikings at 23-19 and a set down in the second set. The Eagles outhit the Vikings .250 to -.027 in the first set, and had just taken the biggest lead for either team in the second set with a 4-0 run that broke a 19-19 tie.
 
An EWU attack error snapped the Eagles' run, and McDougald sandwiched a kill between another EWU error. Caroline Dragani then aced the Eagles to draw the Vikings level again at 23-23. Dragani committed a service error on the next point to give the Eagles their first set point at 24-23, but Webb quickly erased it with a kill. The Eagles went back up off a PSU attack error, but gave the point right back to the Vikings on a service error. The Eagles earned their third set point with a block that put them up 26-25, but Webb saved it with another kill, this time after an athletic dig from McDougald.
 
The Vikings finally earned their first set point off a kill from sophomore Jasmine Powell, and Powell sealed the set with another kill on the next point, putting down an overpass after a tough serve from Webb.
 
"Grinding out the second set gave us a chance to regroup and reestablish our mission. The players knew we were underperforming and they made the change in how we were competing," Seemann said.
 
The block came alive for the Vikings from there, with two of the Vikings' first three points in the third set coming off the block. The Eagles responded with a 5-0 run to get back within one at 8-7, but it became the serve and block show for the Vikings from that point on.
 
The Vikings got a side-out kill from McDougald to end the Eagles' run, and Komo followed with back-to-back aces to put the Vikings back up by four at 11-7. Dragani and fellow freshman Riley Daniel followed with a block to put the Vikings up 12-7, while Daniel combined with Webb a few points later on another block.
 
Dragani and Webb added a service ace each later in the set, while the two combined with Haynie for a pair of blocks between the two aces. Webb's ace gave the Vikings a 23-11 lead, and Powell ended the set a few points later with a kill.
 
The Eagles opened up an 8-5 lead at the start of the fourth set, only to see the Vikings respond with a 9-1 run that put them in control at 14-9. Offense finally led the way for the Vikings in the run, as seven of the Vikings' nine points in the run came on kills. McDougald accounted for three of the kills, while her second service ace of the match put the Vikings up 17-13 after the Eagles made a mini-comeback.
 
The Vikings still led by four at 19-15 when Haynie put together a series of plays that ended the match for the Vikings. Haynie sandwiched a block with Powell in between two kills to put the Vikings up 22-15, then closed the match with another block and kill following an ace from Webb.
 
Five different Vikings finished with two service aces or more between Powell – who led the Vikings with three aces – Komo, Dragani, Webb and McDougald.
 
Dragani finished with her second double-double in the Vikings' past three matches while recording 32 assists and 11 digs. Dragani also finished with four blocks and three kills in the match, giving her a career-high seven points.
 
McDougald, Webb and Powell all came close to double-doubles themselves. McDougald added eight digs to her match-high 13 kills, while Webb recorded seven digs to go with 12 kills. Powell, meanwhile, fell two kills short of a double-double with eight kills to go with 11 digs.
 
Powell, Webb and Daniel all recorded four blocks in the match, while McDougald had two blocks between one solo and one assist.
 
Freshman libero Ellie Snook led the Vikings with 19 digs, 18 of which came in the final three sets of the match.
 
The Vikings remain home for a match against Idaho Saturday that starts at 7 p.m. at Viking Pavilion. The Vandals had been in second place in the Big Sky standings, but lost in five sets to Sacramento State Thursday night.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improved to 32-27 all time against the Eagles with Thursday's win…The Vikings trail 20-24 in the Big Sky series between them and the Eagles after Thursday…The Vikings swept the Eagles in Cheney on Sept. 27, giving them the season sweep over EWU…The Vikings have won six matches in a row against the Eagles, and 18 of the last 19…Thursday night's match was presented by Les Schwab.