OGDEN, Utah — Resiliency was a theme throughout the regular season for the Portland State volleyball team. It's only appropriate that it define the Vikings' first match in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, then, as the Vikings overcame a tough first-set loss to beat Pacific (Calif.) in five sets Friday at Weber State's Swenson Gym.
 
The Vikings led by as many as nine points in the first set, only to lose it, 28-26. The team bounced back by dominating the next two sets, but then dropped the fourth set after leading by three late at 21-18. Sure enough, the Vikings shook off that loss, too, winning 13 of the final 17 points of the fifth set to seal the win.
 
That resiliency netted the Vikings their first-ever win in a national Division I postseason tournament, as well as the team's 20th win of the season. Both of those facts are made more impressive when considering Pacific (Calif.) came into the match with two wins over nationally ranked teams, as the Tigers beat Pepperdine and San Diego – both of which were ranked 23rd nationally at the time – during West Coast Conference play on Oct. 7 and Nov. 20, respectively.
 
"We knew we had to be the team that stayed steady," Portland State head volleyball coach Michael Seemann said afterwards. "Several times tonight, I asked our team to ignore the score and play one point at a time. I thought we did a great job of that today."
 
Serving guided the Vikings (20-10) home, as four aces came in the team's final nine points of the match, including one on match point. Gabby Hollins aced the Tigers (13-17) on back-to-back points, with both coming after Pacific had called a timeout. Ashleigh Barto then followed with an ace that made it 10-4, while Ellie Snook closed it out with her second ace of the match.
 
The Vikings finished with 17 aces as a team, one off the single-match record that was originally set way back in 1989. Parker Webb led the Vikings with five aces, tying a career high, while Hollins and Barto followed with four and three aces, respectively. Snook and Ally Wada then added two aces each, while Makayla Lewis had the other.
 
"We committed to striking the ball the same from the service line, regardless of the score," Seemann said. "That paid off for us in the fifth set, in particular.
 
Webb emerged as a force late in the first set for the Vikings. She had four kills and an ace after Pacific came back to take a 22-21 lead late in the opening set. The Tigers still went on to win the frame, but Webb remained hot in the second set while guiding the Vikings to a dominant, 25-15 set victory. Webb recorded a kill and an ace on back-to-back points that gave the Vikings a 15-8 lead, at which point she already had eight kills and three aces despite barely being a set and a half into the match.
 
Webb finished with 15 kills on .480 hitting Friday, while adding eight digs and four blocks to her five aces. That gave Webb 22 points in the match for her highest total since she had 22.5 in the Vikings' four-set win over Gonzaga on Sept. 19.
 
Makayla Lewis followed Webb with 14 kills while recording her 14th double-double of the season with 12 digs to go along with it. Lewis was at her best after the opening set, as she only had one error over the final four frames of the match.
 
Gabby Hollins also came up big for the Vikings with nine kills to go with seven digs, four aces and three blocks. Hollins played her best in the final frame, especially early on when she helped stake out an early lead for the Vikings. Hollins' third kill of the set made it 6-3 PSU, while she followed with back-to-back aces to give the Vikings an 8-3 lead.
 
All told, the Vikings outhit the Tigers .234-to-.070. The Viking defense held the Tigers to single-digit kills in every set they won, including only three kills in the fifth set. Additionally, the Vikings out-blocked the Tigers 16-to-5 in the match, with the team's 16 blocks marking a new season high.
 
Barto led the Vikings' effort at the net, as she tied a career high with eight blocks while setting another career high with four solo blocks. Barto also added four kills and three aces to go with her eight blocks.
 
Sydney Rabe started alongside Barto, and stepped into her expanded role nicely while setting a new career high with seven blocks. Webb (4), Hollins (3) and Lewis (3) all also finished with at least three blocks in the match.
 
Setter Ally Wada added 35 assists and seven digs for the Vikings, while Snook led all players with 16 digs in the match.
 
The Vikings will now play either Weber State or CSU Bakersfield in the second round of the NIVC tournament Saturday at 1 p.m. PT / 2 p.m. MT.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings took a 4-3 lead in the all-time series between them and the Tigers with the win Friday…Snook's first ace of the match gave her 47 for the season and broke the single-season school record for aces during the 25-point scoring format (2008-pres.), surpassing Kaeli Patton's old record of 46 from 2012…The Vikings improved to 5-1 in five-set matches this season…The Vikings also came back to win after dropping the opening set for the seventh time this season.