PORTLAND, Ore. — This Portland State volleyball team knows how to break out of a slump.
Last year, after losing four of five, the Vikings came back from a 5-0 deficit in the fifth set against Sacramento State to beat the Hornets on the road. That led into the Big Sky tournament where the Vikings went on to make their first championship match appearance since 2013. This year, after losing four of five, the Vikings staved off four match points in an extended fourth set against Montana State and completed a reverse sweep of the Bobcats, 3-2 (24-26, 18-25, 25-22, 30-28, 15-11) Thursday night at Viking Pavilion.
Saturday's win marked the Vikings' first reverse sweep since Sept. 24 last season when they came back to beat Eastern Washington on the road. That match was also the last time the Vikings won a match in which they faced a match point.
Of course, it was only one match point against the Eagles. Not the four the Vikings faced Thursday against a Bobcat team that came into the match tied with Weber State and Sacramento State atop the Big Sky standings.
"I felt like even winning that third set, to me, it felt like there was a flip. It just felt like there was a weight off our shoulders. I don't think this is the end. It's certainly not the beginning. We have a lot of growth still to have, but yeah, it just felt like breaking out of a slump," Seemann said after the win.
"I'm just proud of the team. They earned that sucker. They got after it. They changed the way they played and changed the way they approached the match and they earned it."
The reverse sweep makes it easy to pinpoint when the switch flipped for the Vikings (11-8, 4-4 Big Sky). Over the first two sets, the Vikings were hitting just .104 while being out-blocked 10.0-to-1.0 by the Bobcats (13-5, 6-2 Big Sky). But over the final three sets, the Vikings hit .245 while firing up their defense behind 12.0 blocks over the final three sets.
"The message between sets two and three was, we're playing with them. This isn't disaster mode and I felt like if we just tightened up in a couple of areas, then we'd win," Seemann said of the switch in his team.
A number of Vikings contributed to the turnaround, though
Sophia Meyers was the clear headliner. She recorded 12 of her match-high 21 kills after the first two sets while hitting .440 over the final three frames and adding 11 digs, two aces and a block. Meyers had seven kills in the fourth set alone, with the last three of those seven all erasing match points.
Meyers finished with 21 kills on .327 hitting for the match while adding 20 digs, four aces and a block. Meyers' 21 kills marked a new season high while her 20 digs gave the junior the first 20-20 match of her career.
"She's one of those players where her whole game gets better when one thing gets better. So, she was attacking better, so I thought she was passing better, she settled down defensively, and she got more aggressive," Seemann said of Meyers.
"We needed some breathing room for her. She needed to see some open court. Because when she does and she gets ahold of one, the wowzers, then I think she's much better when there are four hands in front her. She's more aggressive in situations when you probably shouldn't score. But also, to hit off of two setters is a difficult thing and even to flip that in the fifth set and for her to still be able to do what she did is awesome."
Outside of Meyers, the Vikings saw improvement from the third set on when they switched to a 6-2 formation.
Ella Hartford and
Jasmine Powell subbed on for
Madison Friebel and
Kendra Duffey in the 6-2. Both Powell and Duffey recorded five kills from the right side over the final three sets, including one on match point for Duffey.
Additionally, six of
Ashleigh Barto's season-high 13 kills came after the second set. Fellow middle blocker
Lauryn Anderson had all seven of her kills come after the second set, with five of those seven coming as she hit .714 in the fourth set. Both Anderson and Barto had five blocks after the second set, as well.
Beyond stats, the 520 fans in attendance at Viking Pavilion could see the shift in the Vikings' effort at the start of the third set. The Vikings were a little listless in the second set after giving up set points in the first set.
Some longer rallies started going the Vikings' way in the third set, however, including one at 4-all that got the crowd back in it. The home crowd then became a factor when a 6-0 run on Hartford's serve saw the Vikings flip a 12-9 deficit into a 15-12 lead. Harford put down an ace during the run, but it was Barto who came alive with a kill and then back-to-back blocks – the first with
Gabby Hollins, the second with Powell – to push the Vikings in front.
The Bobcats came back to tie it at 20-all, but Meyers immediately responded with first a kill then an ace to put the Vikings back up two at 22-20. The Bobcats twice got back within one, but a kill from Duffey got the Vikings to set point while an MSU attack error gave the Vikings the set, 25-22.
The Vikings' play late in close sets had been a symptom of their recent slump. In their four recent losses, the Vikings' record in sets when both teams reached 20 points was just 2-6. But against the Bobcats, the Vikings went 2-1 in those sets.
The Vikings were at their best late in close sets in the fourth frame against the Bobcats. The Vikings jumped out to a 12-8 lead, but then saw Montana State go on a 6-1 run to take a 14-13 advantage. It remained a close set until the Bobcats eventually edged ahead at 23-21. An MSU service error got the Vikings back within one, then a solo block from Barto drew the Vikings level again at 23-all.
It was at that point that the hearts of every Viking fan in attendance jumped into their respective throats and stayed there for the next 20 minutes.
Montana State broke the 23-all tie with a kill from Madilyn Siebler to earn the Bobcats' first match point at 24-23. Barto saved that with a kill, but the Bobcats earned another match point right away with a kill from Avery Turnage. A tough serve that freshman
Paige Stepaniuk did well to keep off the ground nearly ended it after that, but Stepaniuk's pass led to a kill for Meyers that leveled it again at 25-all.
A solo block for Anderson gave the Vikings their first set point at 26-25, but the Bobcats' Kira Thomsen answered with back-to-back kills to give the Bobcats their third match point at 27-26. Meyers erased that with another kill, then wiped away the Bobcats' fourth match point after a PSU service error. Tied at 28-all, the Vikings went to Anderson on back-to-back points and the redshirt senior delivered, giving the Vikings a 30-28 set victory.
"The last three or four matches, we've kind of folded in those situations. A lot of our recent sets have been decided by two points, especially against Idaho State. But we delivered tonight. From the pass, to the serve receive, to the finishes," Seemann said of his team's play late in the fourth set.
"Sophia got hot. She got confident, which is really what we needed from her. But yeah, she closed out with those swings."
The Vikings then played with purpose at the start of the fifth set. Seemann tweaked his lineup a bit and the Vikings used the momentum of the previous set to jump out to a 6-2 lead.
"The fifth set is the one where we started Soph in the front row. She started back row the previous four sets. But we knew we wanted her up front in that first rotation so we made a few adjustments and flipped who we started with in the 6-2. So, that put Soph in the front row and also put who we thought were our hottest servers in the right order," Seemann said of the team's adjustments in the fifth set.
You wouldn't know that it was the Vikings' first fifth set of the season the way the Vikings jumped out to the early lead. A kill from Barto gave the Vikings a 9-4 lead, while the Vikings were the first to 10 points when an MSU service error gave them a 10-5 lead. They still had to withstand one last run from the Bobcats, whoever, as they got back within two at 11-9. But back-to-back kills from the Vikings' middles – the first from Barto, the second from Anderson – put the Vikings back up four at 13-9. Another MSU service error got the Vikings to match point at 14-10, and Duffey would convert on the Vikings' second match point to close out the match.
Outside of Meyers' 21 kills and Barto's 13, Hollins finished with 10 kills while matching her career high with three blocks, all of which came after the second set. Anderson hit .538 on her seven kills while adding two aces and five blocks. Barto added a team-high six blocks to her 13 kills.
Friebel and Hartford both finished with double-doubles from the setter position. Friebel set a season high with 45 assists to go with 13 digs. Hartford, meanwhile, recorded 13 assists and 10 digs, the vast majority of which came over the final three sets of the match.
The Vikings will now have to put Thursday's emotional win behind them when they host Montana Saturday at 7 p.m.
Last year, the Vikings followed their slump-busting win over Sacramento State with a run to the Big Sky championship match. That's still a long way off, though, as Thursday's win marked the end of just the first half of the Big Sky schedule.
But the first step towards a big second-half run came with the Vikings' comeback victory against the Bobcats.
Match Notes: The Vikings improved to 48-26-1 all time against the Bobcats with Thursday's win…The Vikings' 13.0 blocks marked a new season high…Thursday was the first time this season that the Vikings have won a match while hitting below .200 (the Viks finished at .187).
