PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State volleyball team dropped a rivalry match to the University of Portland Thursday, falling in four sets (20-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-16) on the opening night of the Portland North Marriott Invitational at the Chiles Center.
 
Through the opening set, the Vikings (4-6) looked like the team that had won six straight sets coming into Thursday night following a pair of sweeps over North Texas and Cal Poly last weekend. Even after the Pilots (6-4) took the second set, 26-24, the Vikings were still outhitting their opponents .227-to-.068, out-killing them 29-to-17, out-blocking them 5-to-2, and out-digging them 35-to-29.
 
But the Pilots' win in the second set sparked something in them. Held to under .100 hitting and single-digit kills in the first two sets, the Pilots suddenly found their offense. Now playing with confidence, the Pilots hit .343 with 14 kills in the third set and then hit .282 with 15 kills in the fourth.
 
What's more, the Pilots won lots of easy points off the Vikings, especially on the serve. The Pilots had nearly as many aces (7) as kills (8) in the crucial second set, while finishing with 13 aces overall in the match. The 13 aces tied a season high for a Viking opponent as Utah State also had 13 aces against the Vikings last Friday.
 
The poor serve receive by the Vikings was in stark contrast to how they passed the ball in their recent sweeps over North Texas and Cal Poly. The Vikings did not record a single reception error against North Texas last Saturday, and only had one against Cal Poly last Sunday. The offense that sparkled in those two sweeps was there at time for the Vikings Thursday night, but not consistently enough, in part due to the poor serve receive.
 
The Pilots staked out an early lead in the fourth set that took a lot of tension out of the match. The Pilots led 9-2 before the Vikings could blink, then took a 20-8 lead with an 8-1 run that essentially put the match to bed.
 
Sophia Meyers led the Vikings with her fourth double-double of the season so far with 15 kills and 13 digs. Meyers had six of her 15 kills in the opening set when she hit .333.
 
Ashleigh Barto and Zoe McBride followed with nine kills each. The nine kills for Barto marked a new season high for the middle blocker, as the Vikings found lots of openings in the middle. Parker Webb added eight kills on .261 hitting, though all eight of her kills came in the first two sets of the match.
 
Ellie Snook provided a bright spot for the Vikings with a team-high 18 digs in the match. The 18 digs moved her past Eavi Shovlin (1994-97) for second in career digs across all eras of program history. Snook now needs just 108 more digs to pass Kasimira Clark (2011-14) for the career record.
 
The Vikings have a chance to bounce back on the same floor Saturday, as they face Seattle U in a neutral-site match at 12 p.m. The match against the Redhawks will close out the Vikings' non-conference slate, offering the Vikings a final opportunity to reclaim the form they had in their sweeps over North Texas and Cal Poly before heading into Big Sky play.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings still lead the all-time series between them and the Pilots, 36-21, despite Thursday's loss…This was the Vikings' first loss to the Pilots at the Chiles Center since Sept. 13, 2011…Webb's eight kills tied her with Richell Wilson (2000-03) for second in Division I program history with 1,204 career kills. She'll pass Wilson with her first kill in Saturday's match…Webb was playing in her 126th career match, giving her the career record as she moved past PSU Hall of Famer Garyn Schlatter (2010-13).