PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland State and CSUN gave the Les Schwab Rose City Showdown a proper finale Saturday afternoon as the Vikings and Matadors went back-and-forth in a five-setter that CSUN eventually pulled out, 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-12).
 
The fifth set alone was worth the tournament's price of admission, as the Vikings nearly came back from an early 10-3 deficit to win the match. CSUN (3-6) won 10 straight points in building their 10-3 lead, but the Vikings (3-6) responded with seven of the next nine points to cut their deficit to two at 12-10. The teams traded points after that before a kill from CSUN's Morgan Salone gave the Matadors three match points at 14-11. The Vikings fought off the first match point with a kill from redshirt sophomore Jordan White, but CSUN's Nicole Nevarez ended it a play later with a final kill in the match.
 
The close loss clouded a couple of the Vikings' major accomplishments against CSUN, including the Vikings' vastly improved play at the net. Less than a day after the Vikings only recorded three blocks in a three-set loss to Nevada Friday night, the Vikings totaled 14 blocks against CSUN. The Vikings' better blocking made a major dent in CSUN's hitting percentage in the match, as the Vikings held CSUN to a new season-low for the Matadors at .107.
 
White made her presence in the middle felt throughout the match, as she returned to the Vikings' lineup after missing the last five matches with an injury. White set a new career high with 11 blocks against CSUN between three solo and eight assists, and also added eight kills and five digs for the Vikings.
 
White and the Vikings' play at the net helped ignite the team in the second set, after the Vikings dropped the first, 25-19.
 
White recorded a solo block on a back-row attack over the middle from CSUN that gave the Vikings an early 6-4 lead. White and freshman Caroline Dragani then combined for another block that came at the end of a 6-0 Viking run that made it 8-4.
 
CSUN eventually got back within one at 15-14, but another block, this time between White and senior Toni McDougald, came in the middle of a 3-0 run for the Vikings that put them back up by four at 18-14. Freshman Riley Daniel recorded her own solo block a little later to put the Vikings up 22-18, while two late kills from redshirt sophomore Parker Webb eventually clinched the set for the Vikings at 25-20.
 
The Vikings finished with four blocks in the second set alone, more than they had in their entire match the previous night against Nevada. The strong net play meant the Vikings held CSUN to only .036 hitting in the second set, as the Vikings forced the Matadors into 12 attack errors in the frame.
 
Portland State was unfortunate not to win the third set, too, as the Vikings didn't trail until a late attacking error gave CSUN a 21-20 lead late. McDougald put the Vikings up 19-16 with her second kill of the set, but the Matadors won nine of the set's final 11 points to go up 2-1 on the Vikings.
 
The late comeback fueled the Vikings early in the fourth set, however, as they won the set's first four points and led 19-10 before CSUN made a late comeback. CSUN got back within four at 23-19, prompting the second timeout of the set from PSU head coach Michael Seemann. Whatever was said, the timeout worked, as the Vikings came out of the break with a kill and a service ace from freshmen Jasmine Powell and Ellie Snook, respectively, to send the match to a fifth set.
 
The Vikings won the first three points of the fifth set, too, before CSUN went on their big run that the Vikings couldn't quite recover from.
 
Four different Vikings finished with double-doubles in the match between Powell, McDougald, Webb and Dragani. The last time four Vikings had double-doubles in the same match was close to nine years ago when the Vikings faced Sacramento State on Oct. 2, 2010.
 
Powell recorded her second double-double of the weekend and fourth of the season with 12 kills and 18 digs. Powell also had 21 kills and 14 digs in the Vikings' five-set win over Morgan State on Friday, and the two double-doubles earned her a spot on the Les Schwab Rose City Showdown's All-Tournament Team.
 
Besides Powell, McDougald recorded her second double-double of the season while leading the Vikings with 13 kills and adding 12 digs. Webb, meanwhile, had 10 kills to go with 15 digs, while Dragani recorded 33 assists and 13 digs.
 
Snook finished the match with 30 digs, becoming the first freshman to crack 30 digs in a match in at least 10 years. Snook also had 22 digs in the Vikings' five-setter against Morgan State, and averaged 5.23 digs per set over the weekend to up her season average to 4.57.
 
The Vikings will next play an intra-city home-and-away series against the University of Portland next weekend. The Vikings host the Pilots Thursday at 7 p.m. at Viking Pavilion, before heading across town to the Chiles Center for a match on the Pilots' home court Saturday at 12 p.m.
 
Les Schwab Rose City Showdown All-Tournament Team
Zoe McBride, Morgan State
Jasmine Powell, Portland State
Taylor Orshoff, CSUN
Morgan Salone, CSUN
Sydney Petersen, Nevada
*Dalyn Burns, Nevada
 
* - Tournament MVP