PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State volleyball team saw a tough stretch of the season extended Saturday, as Weber State topped the Vikings, 3-0 (25-21-25-19, 25-18), at Viking Pavilion to hand the Vikings their fourth loss in their last five matches.
 
The Vikings' youth as well as the injury bug that's plagued them since the start of the season have seemed to catch up with their team. The Vikings (10-8, 3-4 Big Sky) are feeling the loss of two-time All-Big Sky first-team selection Makayla Lewis, who went down with an injury during the Vikings' season opener. The Vikings are also still working to integrate new starters at libero and on the right side, positions that had been largely constant for the Vikings since 2017.
 
Some of the Vikings' youth played well against the Wildcats (13-5, 6-1 Big Sky) despite the loss. Freshman libero Paige Stepaniuk set a career high with 24 digs in the match, five more than she's had in any other match this season. Additionally, fellow freshman Devon DeNecochea started on the right side for the Vikings and chipped in four kills and two blocks.
 
The positive signs from the youth give the Vikings hope for the latter half of the season should they shake out of their current tough stretch. Eliminating errors will be top of the to-do list for the Vikings in order to snap out of their slump. The Vikings committed 25 attack errors Saturday while hitting a season-low .099.
 
Errors cost the Vikings late in the first set when the opener could have gone either way. The Vikings got back within one at 20-19, but then gave up three attack errors and a service error over the final part of the set as the Wildcats took the frame, 25-21.
 
The Vikings led the second set 17-15 after a 3-0 run that featured a kill and a block from middle blocker Lauryn Anderson. However, the Wildcats scored 10 of the last 12 points to take a 2-0 lead with five PSU attack errors accounting for half of the Wildcats' final 10 points of the set.
 
The Wildcats then held the upper hand throughout the third set, stretching their lead with a 7-1 run in the middle part of the frame that put them up 19-10. The Vikings tried to mount a comeback with three straight points soon after, but they still never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
 
A positive for the Vikings came in how they started each set Saturday. Two days after they gave up big leads early in every set they lost to Idaho State, the Vikings stayed within reach of the Wildcats through the early parts of all three sets. The Vikings ran out to a 6-1 lead at the start of the match. Gabby Hollins contributed two kills and a block on the Vikings' first three points, while Stepaniuk added an ace.
 
Hollins led the Vikings with 12 kills across the whole match Saturday. Sophia Meyers finished with 11 kills and 11 digs, appropriate totals for what was her 11th double-double of the season.
 
Setter Madison Friebel set a season high with 30 assists to go with seven digs.
 
Anderson finished with five kills and a team-high four blocks from her middle blocker position.
 
The Vikings remain home next week as they host the Montana schools next Thursday and Saturday. The Vikings open the week against Montana State on Thursday, Oct. 19, then host Montana Saturday, Oct. 21. Both matches start at 7 p.m.
 
Montana State, along with Weber State and Sacramento State, sits atop the Big Sky standings after this weekend.
 
The Bobcats won't make it easy on the Vikings to break out of their recent slump. But you have to play your own way out of a slump, so the Vikings might as well do that against one of the better teams in the conference.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings still lead the all-time series between them and the Wildcats, 41-23, despite Saturday's loss…The Vikings had won three of their last four against the Wildcats before losing Saturday's match…The Vikings have hit less than .150 in four of their last five matches.
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