EL PASO, Texas — The Portland State volleyball team struggled to raise its level to where it was last night in a five-set win over UTEP, falling 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-20) to New Mexico Saturday to close out the Borderland Invitational at UTEP's Memorial Gym.
 
The Lobos (4-1) controlled the match from the start, leading 10-4 early in the opening frame and cruising to a 25-12 first-set victory. The Lobos then led by at least three points in the latter stages of the second and third sets before closing out both, 25-20.
 
"This tournament had four teams who have the potential of 20 wins this season. It was evident with so many matches going five sets that we were evenly matched," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said after the match. "Today was disappointing. Our effort and execution were inconsistent. We will not defeat good teams when we are not committed to each point."
 
All four teams at the Borderland Invitational, including the Vikings, won at least 20 matches last season. South Dakota, which beat the Vikings 3-1 Friday, entered the season as the two-time defending Summit League champions. UTEP, the tournament host which the Vikings beat in five sets last night, returned all seven starters from a team that went 24-8 last season and made the semifinals of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).
 
The Lobos also returned all seven starters off their team last year when they went 20-10 last season. They showed that quality Saturday, as well as earlier in the tournament as they split a pair of close five-setters with UTEP (Thursday) and South Dakota (Friday).
 
The Lobos limited the Vikings to .089 hitting in Saturday's match, while the Vikings only topped 10+ kills in one of the three sets. The Vikings' best set offensively came in the second, when they matched the Lobos with 12 kills with six different players contributing. Jasmine Powell had three kills on only four attempts in the second set, while Zoe McBride also had three kills to go with three digs and a block in the frame.
 
Still, the Lobos erased an early Viking lead in the second set and the closest the Vikings got in the latter half of the set was at 15-14. The Lobos then staked out an early 10-4 lead in the third set, and the Vikings never got closer than four points the rest of the way.
 
Overall, Makayla Lewis led the Vikings with eight kills to go with seven digs and two blocks. Powell and Parker Webb followed Lewis with five kills each, while McBride and Ashleigh Barto finished with four.
 
Libero Ellie Snook added three aces to her 10 digs in the match, upping her career total to 103 aces and moving her past Portland State Hall of Famer Garyn Schlatter for seventh in Division I program history.
 
The Vikings return to their home state next weekend. The Vikings will play two matches at the Asics Invitational, hosted by Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore., before coming back to Viking Pavilion for a match against Cal Poly at 1 p.m. on Sept. 11. The Vikings open the Asics Invitational Friday, Sept. 9, with a neutral-site match against Utah State in Corvallis.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings fell to 1-4 all time against New Mexico with Saturday's loss…Saturday's match was the first meeting between the two teams since Sept. 10, 2011…Webb played in her 122nd career match Saturday, moving her into sole possession of fourth all time in the program's Division I history. She needs to play in only four more matches to pass Schlatter for the D1 record.