OGDEN, Utah — The Portland State volleyball team saved two set points while winning five of the final six points in the third set to take a 2-1 lead over Big Sky regular-season champion Northern Colorado. But the Bears flipped the match from there, winning the fourth and fifth sets to outlast the Vikings, 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-27, 25-15, 15-6), in the Big Sky championship match Saturday.
 
The loss puts a sour end note on an otherwise standout weekend for the Vikings. They made their first appearance in the Big Sky championships match since 2013 after avenging earlier losses to Eastern Washington and Montana State in the first two rounds of the tournament.
 
"I'm proud of this team. We have an amazing group that developed and came together for a strong tournament run," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said after the match.
 
"Our seniors brought us to this moment and the young core of this team will learn from this experience. The future is very bright for Portland State volleyball."
 
Makayla Lewis staked the Vikings out to their 2-1 lead in the match. She had 19 kills by the end of the third set, including an incredible 10 in the third set alone. Lewis finished with a match-high 24 kills on .319 hitting, putting the finishing touches on a standout tournament weekend. Lewis was named to the all-tournament team at the end of Saturday's match, an honor she earned after leading the Vikings in kills in all three matches while averaging 4.54 kills per set at the tournament.
 
Setter Madison Friebel joined Lewis on the all-tournament team after recording three straight double-doubles, including one Saturday with 50 assists and 15 digs against the Bears.
 
Friebel led the Vikings to .405 hitting in the first set as the Vikings took the opening frame, 25-23. Four different Vikings had at least three kills in the set thanks to Friebel's distribution, while all four were hitting .333 or better. Middle blockers Ashleigh Barto and Ashlyn Blotzer combined for seven kills on seven attacks in the first set, while Sophia Meyers led the team with five kills on .333 hitting.
 
The Vikings' level dipped a bit in the second set, though they still saved five set points and narrowly lost, 25-23.
 
The offense re-found its rhythm in the third set, especially late in the frame as the Vikings made up an early deficit to edge the Bears. Lewis had two kills in a 4-0 run for the Vikings that cut the Bears' lead to one at 16-15. Still, the Vikings never got level with the Bears until right at the end of the set when they saved two sets points to tie it at 24-all. Lewis erased the first set point with a kill, while Blotzer erased the second with an emphatic solo block in the middle of the net.
 
Lewis recorded another kill – her 10th of the set – to give the Vikings their first set point. The Bears erased that with a block, but then gave the Vikings another set point right away with a service error. Meyers then completed the Vikings' comeback with a kill to put them up 2-1 in the match.
 
All told, the Vikings hit .316 in the third set while matching their kill total from the first set with 18 in the frame.
 
But the Bears raised their level from there. An 8-0 run gave the Bears a 15-5 lead early in the fourth set and they rolled from there. Then in the fifth set, the Bears led 8-2 before the Vikings could catch their breath, and they extended that out to an 11-2 lead a little later. The Bears ended up hitting .615 with eight kills in the fifth set while holding the Vikings to a negative hitting percentage.
 
The Vikings will lament the ending, but certainly not their effort Saturday. The Bears had swept the Vikings in both of the teams' matches during the regular season, so taking two sets off the Bears Saturday showed their competitiveness.
 
Besides Lewis, Meyers and Barto finished with 12 kills each Saturday. Barto recorded her 12 kills on .429 hitting while adding five blocks. Blotzer also had five blocks in the match while adding six kills.
 
The loss doesn't necessarily end the Vikings' season. The team will await its fate Sunday night, when the field for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) will be announced following the NCAA tournament selection show at 4:30 p.m. PT.
 
Considering how the Vikings played in their first championship match since 2013, they deserve another match at least.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings fell to 21-22 all time against the Bears with the loss…The Vikings are now 2-5 all time in the Big Sky championship match, with their last win coming in 2010…Ellie Snook led all players with 19 digs in the match, moving her within five digs of Montana State's Allyssa Rizzo for third in Big Sky Conference history for career digs…Parker Webb's 8.0 points Saturday move her within 16.0 of the Division I program record that Jessica Brodie set at 1,789.0 career points from 2003-06.