CHENEY, Wash. — For the second straight week, the Portland State volleyball team showed improvement from their first match of the weekend to their next as the Vikings beat Eastern Washington 3-0 Friday night, just 24 hours after Idaho swept the Vikings, 3-0.
 
The Vikings (5-8, 1-1 Big Sky) gave up late leads in the first and second sets to the Vandals Thursday night, but closed out each set against the Eagles (2-12, 0-2 Big Sky). The Vikings even came back from a late deficit in the third set against the Eagles, as they won 11 of the final 15 points of the match to seal the victory.
 
Friday's victory at Reese Court was also the rare instance where the Vikings were playing matches on back-to-back day, as Big Sky matches are usually played with at least a day off in between. The Eagles were in the same boat after losing 3-1 to Sacramento State Thursday, but the Vikings looked like the sharper team throughout the match.
 
"I am proud of the way we closed the door in each set. We grinded through a little fatigue and a very strong home crowd atmosphere," PSU head coach Michael Seemann said after the match. 
 
"We stayed steady throughout the match and took advantage of them being out of system."
 
The Eagles gifted the Vikings a number of points early in the match. Only one of the Vikings' first eight points in the match came on a kill while EWU committed three service errors, two attack errors, a ball handling error and a reception error.
 
The Viking offense eventually got going, but the Viking defense still put the Eagles in tough spots throughout the match. The Eagles had 17 attack errors through the first two sets, at which point the Vikings were outhitting the Eagles .222-to-.129.
 
The Eagles played more efficiently in the third set, as they only had three attack errors while building an 18-14 lead. The Vikings picked up their own play from that point, however, as they won six of the next seven points to go up 20-19. Freshman Julia Haynie teamed up with classmate Caroline Dragani for two blocks in the run before capping it with a kill.
 
Freshman Jasmine Powell recorded a kill and a service ace back-to-back to give the Vikings a 22-20 lead, while another block from Haynie, this time with redshirt sophomore Parker Webb, made it 23-21. The Eagles won the next point to get back within one, but an EWU service error set up redshirt sophomore Jordan White for a match-ending kill. 
 
The Vikings separated themselves in the first set with a 5-1 run that gave them a 16-11 lead. Senior Toni McDougald recorded two kills in the run, part of her match-high 11 kills against the Eagles.
 
The Eagles twice got back within two points later in the set, but another McDougald kill sparked a 4-1 run to close it out.
 
The Vikings separated themselves again in the middle of the second set, as an 8-3 run gave the Vikings a 21-15 lead. Two more EWU attack errors and an EWU service error gave the Vikings set point, and just as she would in the third, White ended it for the Vikings with a kill.
 
Statistically, McDougald's 11 kills marked the fifth straight match and sixth out of the last seven in which she's had double-digit kills. Powell followed McDougald with eight kills to go with seven digs, while Webb and White each added four kills.
 
Freshman libero Ellie Snook led the Viking defense with 22 digs, the second straight night in which she had 22 digs in a three-set match. No Viking had recorded that many digs in a three-set match since Tasha Bojanic on Sept. 30, 2017, and Snook has now done it in back-to-back matches. Additionally, Snook went over 20 digs in her third straight match, as well as the fifth time out of the past seven matches.
 
Dragani, meanwhile, led all players with 22 assists while also recording five digs.
 
The Vikings head back home for two matches next weekend, as they host Northern Arizona and Southern Utah Thursday and Saturday, respectively, at Viking Pavilion. The Vikings open the weekend against NAU at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improved to 31-27 all time against the Eagles with the win…The Vikings have now won 17 of their last 18 matches against the Eagles, including the last five straight…The Vikings finished the match outhitting the Eagles .219-to-.137.