MISSOULA, Mont. — Three set points squandered between the first and second sets came back to bite the Portland State volleyball team Thursday. The Vikings dropped both sets, 26-24, en route to a 3-1 loss (26-24, 26-24, 15-25, 25-21) to Montana at Dahlberg Arena.
 
It's the second straight loss for the Vikings after they also fell in three sets to Northern Colorado at home last Saturday. The Vikings remain a half game up on Northern Colorado and Weber State in the Big Sky standings, but that lead will vanish if both teams keep winning.
 
The Big Sky standings will be secondary for the Vikings (14-9, 9-3 Big Sky) right now, however. Most important will be diagnosing what's gone wrong in their past two matches.
 
The offense returned to form for the Vikings Thursday, after it had struggled over the team's past three matches. The Vikings hit .262 against the Grizzlies (15-9, 8-4 Big Sky), after hitting just .183 combined over their previous three matches.
 
The Vikings actually won most of the statistical battles Thursday. They outhit the Grizzlies .262-to-.201, out-killed them 59-to-54, out-dug them 68-to-57 and out-blocked them 7.0-to-.5.0. The one area that gave the Vikings problems that fueled other issues came from the service line. The Grizzlies aced the Vikings eight times Thursday, and put the team out of system on several other occasions.
 
Montana also became the first Big Sky team outside of Northern Colorado to hit over .200 against the Vikings this season. The Vikings held the Grizzlies to .000 hitting and only eight kills in a 25-15 third-set victory, but the Grizzlies hit .250 or better in the second and fourth sets and finished with at least 13 kills in all but the third set.
 
Still, the Vikings would have been fine if they had closed the door on their set points in the first and second sets. The Vikings led 24-22 in the first set, only to lose the final four points to drop the set, 26-24. The Vikings then led 24-23 in the second set, but then dropped three straight points to fall behind 2-0 in the match.
 
The Vikings looked like the team of old in the third set, out-hitting the Grizzlies .364-to-.000, but Montana re-grouped for the fourth. The Grizzlies jumped out to an early 10-6 lead and soon stretched it to an 18-10 advantage. The Vikings made a run from there, getting back within two at 23-21, but the Grizzlies won the next two points to close out the match in four sets.
 
The loss spoiled a strong match for Makayla Lewis, who tied her season high with 20 kills on .349 hitting to go with 12 digs. Seven of Lewis' 20 kills came in the Vikings' third-set victory, when she also hit .583 and totaled seven digs.
 
Parker Webb and Sophia Meyers also went into double figures with 11 kills each.
 
Libero Ellie Snook set a four-set season high with 28 digs, leaving her just eight digs away from recording 2,000 in her career.
 
The 2k milestone could come Saturday for Snook, as the Vikings head to Montana State for a match at 6 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. MT.
 
That will be secondary on the Vikings' minds, however. Their first concern Saturday will be righting the ship and getting back in the win column.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings still lead the all-time series between them and the Grizzlies, 56-19, despite Thursday's loss…Thursday's loss snaps a five-match winning streak for the Vikings against the Grizzlies…Lewis, Webb and Meyers all finished in double figures for kills for the sixth time out of 12 Big Sky matches this season…Webb added three aces to her output Thursday, giving her 151 in her career and making her just the second Viking to pass 150 career aces during the program's Division I history.