PORTLAND, Ore. — A few tears fell from the Vikings' eyes Saturday as the Portland State volleyball team sent out senior Maddy Reeb with a second straight sweep (25-19, 25-14, 25-21) of Idaho State at Viking Pavilion.
 
The tears before the match were all in honor of Reeb's Senior Day. The tears following the match may have been because the Vikings can't play more matches after finding their groove late in the year. The Vikings (6-12, 5-11 Big Sky) wrapped up the regular season with their fifth win out of their last six matches, a streak that included the team's first road win at Sacramento State since Oct. 18, 2014.
 
"It's inspiring to me to see this group come together after [we tested] so many different permutations," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said. "Those battles on the road at SAC is what spurred it off a little bit, but I think we've always believed from the beginning that we could beat teams. It's nice to be able to do that now."
 
The Vikings went 5-1 in March, a stark contrast from February when the team felt the effect of having their preseason training delayed due to state regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vikings return all of their players but Reeb next season, however, and will take their strong finish to the season into spring term when they can build off it and prepare for fall.
 
That's in the future, though. Saturday was about honoring Reeb, who finished with five kills on seven attacks (.714 hitting) to go with nine assists and two blocks in her final home match. Reeb recorded her 1,000th-career assist during the match, making her the eighth Viking during the program's Big Sky era (1996-Pres.) to reach the milestone.
 
"Maddy, everyone who knows her knows she's one of a kind. We couldn't be more proud to give her a win on her day, and her being a part of that, as well," Seemann said of Reeb.
 
Reeb alternated with Ally Wada at setter, and the pair led the Vikings to an improved attack compared to Friday's match against the Bengals (4-14, 2-14 Big Sky). Reeb and Wada led the Vikings to at least 13 kills in all three sets Saturday, more than they had in any set Friday. Reeb and Wada also led the Vikings to .286 hitting in the match, a tick below the team's season high of .289 that they set against Northern Colorado on Feb. 15.
 
Gabby Hollins led the Vikings with 11 kills while adding 10 digs for the fifth double-double of her freshman season. Zoe McBride also went into double figures for the second straight match, finishing with 10 kills to go with six digs and three blocks. Parker Webb finished with seven kills on .438 to go with seven digs and two blocks.
 
Ashleigh Barto and Julia Haynie, the Vikings' middles, had six and three kills, respectively, while both hit above .333 in the match.
 
"I thought we were able to get a little bit better distribution today. I think we saw a matchup in the middle with their big blocker out. We felt like we could have a lot more success from our middles, which I think we got from them," Seemann said of his team's offense.
 
The in-form offense allowed the Vikings to string points together in every set against the Bengals. Extended runs were a feature of all three sets in the Vikings' win Friday, and they remained a force for the Vikings Saturday.
 
The Vikings outscored the Bengals 15-6 over the latter half of the first set after the Bengals took a 13-10 lead at the start of the match. The team then bookended the second set with a 10-1 run to start and a 9-1 run to finish. The Vikings made their push late in the third set, as the Bengals took an 18-11 lead before the Vikings closed on a 14-3 run to complete the sweep.
 
The Vikings scored the final eight points of the third set, with the freshman duo of Hollins and Barto leading the way. The pair combined for five straight kills, with Barto recording two back-to-back to start the run, before Hollins followed with back-to-back kills of her own. A third kill from Barto gave the Vikings their first lead in the set since it was 2-1, while another from Hollins gave the Vikings match point at 24-21. Wada then put a bow on the match with a service ace.
 
Defense also helped the Vikings sweep the Bengals again Saturday. The team finished with eight blocks, a season high for a three-set match, and two more than they had Friday. Haynie led the effort at the net with five blocks, while Barto and McBride had three each.
 
Meanwhile, sophomore Ellie Snook saved her best match of the season for last, as she totaled 24 digs, following nine in the first set and 10 in the second. Snook only had five matches with more than 24 digs this season, and those were all in four sets or more as opposed to Saturday's three-set sweep.
 
Snook's strong finale means she catapulted Sacramento State's Caty Cordano for first in the Big Sky in digs per set with an average of 5.07. Cordano and the Hornets face Montana for their last two matches of the season Sunday and Monday, but at the moment, Snook is the only player in the Big Sky with more than 5.00 digs per set.
 
Saturday's regular-season finale means the Vikings will now shift their focus to the coming fall season and start building for that.
 
"I think a lot of [our focus] will be on strength," Seemann said of how his team will use the spring. "It's something that we've missed this whole year is just a legitimate, serious strength program where they're pushing their limits a little bit and developing more power and jump height and arm speed. All the things that make us individually better players.
 
"But in addition to that, we gave ourselves a glimpse – offensively especially – of what is really going to click for us. Both setters today dished it up pretty well. They located well, they got the tempo right, and so I want to build on that, as well."
 
And if the fall starts anything like how the Vikings finished this winter, it should be a good season.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improved to 36-26 all-time against Idaho State following Saturday's win…Snook now has 987 digs in her career, leaving her 13 from becoming the eighth player in the Vikings' Big Sky era (1996-Pres.) to reach 1,000.