PORTLAND, Ore. — Gosh darn it, Idaho State.
 
For the second time this season, the Portland State volleyball team climbed out of an 0-2 hole to force a fifth set against the Bengals, only to end up losing 3-2. Thursday night, the Vikings fell 15-12 in the fifth set after leveling the match at 2-2, while the Vikings lost 16-14 in a road match on Oct. 12.
 
Thursday's loss especially hurt for the Vikings (9-17, 5-10 Big Sky) as it kept them from taking a two-match lead for the eighth and final spot at this month's Big Sky tournament. With three matches remaining in the regular season, the Vikings now have to worry about Idaho State (7-20, 4-11 Big Sky) and Montana, both of which sit one match back of the Vikings in the standings but hold the tiebreaker over them.
 
"There were plenty of people who stepped up and played really, really well as individuals, but we didn't play as a team," head coach Michael Seemann said afterwards. "We can't keep starting in a hole. We're just giving teams confidence every single time. And then we're working out of a hole where we have to play absolutely perfect, or at least we feel that way. It's just not how you want to operate."
 
Statistically, the Vikings would appear to have surely won Thursday night as they out-killed, out-hit and out-blocked the Bengals. The Vikings recorded 17 more kills than the Bengals (69-to-52) while outhitting them .297-to-.227. Idaho State held a big advantage on the serve, however, as the Bengals finished with the most aces of any Viking opponent this season with 12, while the Vikings committed 13 service errors to only three for the Bengals.
 
A number of individuals for the Vikings recorded career-best totals despite the loss. Redshirt sophomore Parker Webb recorded her ninth double-double of the season while setting a new career high with 24 kills to go with 11 digs. Webb had never gone past 20 digs in a match before Thursday, as her previous best total came when she had 19 kills at cross-town rival University of Portland earlier this season.
 
Junior Maddy Reeb also matched her career high with 15 kills despite not playing until very late in the second set. Freshman Jasmine Powell finished with 16 kills on a career-best .400 hitting percentage, as she committed only four errors on 30 swings in the match. Webb and Reeb also hit .333 or better against the Bengals, with Webb matching Powell at .400 with only four errors on 50 swings.
 
Freshman setter Caroline Dragani set a new career high with 57 assists, the most assists by a Viking in a match since Erin Clark had 57 against Utah State on Sept. 8, 2016. Freshman libero Ellie Snook, meanwhile, recorded her fifth 30-dig match of the season while finishing with 31 digs against the Bengals. Freshman Sophia Tuliau also got her first-career start at middle blocker, and led the Vikings while setting a new career high with six blocks in the match.
 
Freshman defensive specialist Kylie Komo was another like Reeb who came on after not playing at all in the first set and played well while tying her career high with six digs.
 
The Vikings will lament not piecing it together earlier Thursday since they could have put the match away with dominant third and fourth sets rather than only pushing it to a fifth. The Vikings recorded 14 kills in each of the first two sets – well above their per set average coming into the match – but errors, both too many on the Vikings' side and a lack of them on the Bengals' side, cost them. The Vikings had 13 attack errors combined in the first two sets, while the Bengals only had three. Eight of the Bengals' 12 service aces in the match also came in the first two sets.
 
The Vikings found their groove in the third and fourth sets, as they hit over .400 in both sets. The Vikings again recorded 14 kills in the third set, but this time it came with no attack errors as the Vikings hit .424 in the frame. The Viking defense also picked it up in the third set, forcing the Bengals' into nine attack errors, four of which came on Viking blocks after the Vikings only had two blocks through the first two sets.
 
The fourth set was more back-and-forth between the two teams, but the Vikings edged ahead just when they needed to force a fifth set. The Vikings again hit well over .400 in the set with 19 kills on 40 swings against only two attack errors. Webb recorded eight kills on 15 swings without committing an attack error in the fourth set. Reeb nearly matched Webb with seven kills on 16 swings and only one attack error.
 
Still, the Bengals nearly came back to spoil the Vikings' good play in the fourth set. The Vikings led 19-15 when a 6-1 Idaho State run suddenly put the Bengals ahead 21-20. However, Vikings got a fortunate ball handling error called on Idaho State to level it again at 21-21, while Webb followed with a kill and a service ace back-to-back to give the Vikings set point at 24-22. Idaho State saved the first set point, but Reeb answered the call with a kill on the second, giving the Vikings a 25-23 set win to push the match to a fifth.
 
The Vikings took a 5-3 lead initially in the fifth set off a kill from Powell. Idaho State came back to tie it up at 5-5, however, and the teams remained within a point of each other until an ISU service ace put the Bengals up 11-9. The Vikings got back within a point at 11-10 and 12-11, but two straight Idaho State kills gave the Bengals three match points at 14-11. The Vikings saved the first match point off a block between Dragani and freshman Julia Haynie. However, a PSU attack error on the Bengals' second match point ultimately ended the match in favor of Idaho State.
 
The Vikings will now likely need to upset either Weber State or Sacramento State to bolster their hopes of a Big Sky tournament berth. The Vikings host Weber State Saturday and Sacramento State the following Tuesday, which will also serve as the Vikings' Senior Night. Both matches start at 7 p.m. (PT).
 
Match Notes: The Vikings fell to 34-26 all time against Idaho State with Thursday's loss…The Bengals increased their lead in the Big Sky series to 24-22 with their win…Snook's 31 digs upped her digs per set average to 5.55, maintaining her lead over the current single-season school record, which stands at 5.38…Snook passed Kasimira Clark's 2013 total for second on the single-season list for total digs…Snook now has 555 total digs in the season, second only to Clark's 635 digs in 2012.