PORTLAND, Ore. — The only thing harder than sweeping a Pac-12 team on the road is beating that same Pac-12 team two days later when they're hungry for revenge. That's just what the Portland State volleyball team did Saturday, beating Oregon State 3-1 (25-23, 25-14, 18-25, 25-16) in front of a season-high 708 fans at Viking Pavilion.
 
Saturday's win gives the Vikings (7-4) the season sweep of the Beavers (5-5), as well as their third win over a Pac-12 team this season (the Vikings also beat Utah on Sept. 5). With three straight wins over the Beavers, including last year's 3-1 win on Aug. 27, the Vikings have now recorded their:
 

• First win over the Beavers since 1990 (last year)
• First road win over the Beavers since 1986 (Thursday)
• First road sweep of the Beavers since 1980 (Thursday)
• First season sweep of the Beavers since 1986 (Saturday)

 
"We expected a better team this time around and we got it from the start," Portland State head volleyball coach Michael Seemann said of facing the Beavers twice in a weekend. "Even within the match, they made some adjustments and it took us a while to adapt to that, I think, and adjust ourselves. In the end, I think our serving won out in that they had to go to their outsides, so even any adjustments that they made that may have been working, I think we were able to stifle that a little bit by continuing to strike the ball well."
 
The Beavers made the Vikings earn the season sweep Saturday. Right from the start, it was clear that this was a different Oregon State team than the Vikings beat in three sets Thursday. Two day earlier, the Vikings held the Beavers to a season-low .090 hitting while recording a season-high .315 hitting percentage themselves.
 
The Beavers never recorded more than 10 kills in any set Thursday, and yet they came out Saturday with eight kills on their first nine points of the match. Mychael Vernon – the Beavers' leading attacker – had five kills on the Beavers' first six points and was hitting over .700 midway through the opening set.
 
But the Vikings had the answers. The Vikings took the first set, 25-23, despite being outhit .500-to-.278, and then took the second and fourth sets while hitting over .400 in both frames. The Vikings did not record an attack error in either the second or fourth sets, posting 12 kills without a blemish in the second, and then 15 kills without an error in the fourth.
 
"I thought that we passed really well and they did, too, and so I think that's what you're going to get, a more offensive game," Seemann said of the high hitting percentages on both sides. "At their place last time, I thought we got a lot of timely blocks early in every single set and I think, however you want to attribute that, you influence those hitters, right? They're thinking twice about some things. I don't think we got that today, so I think they remained confident even if they weren't scoring directly off of kills.
 
"But I think we continued to take advantage of the times when they weren't in system."
 
Overall, the Vikings outhit the Beavers .299-to-.252 while edging the Beavers 52-to-50 in kills.
 
Sophia Meyers served her role as ol' reliable for the Vikings once again. Two days after she posted a match-high 17 kills on .317 hitting in Thursday's sweep of the Beavers, Meyers finished with 20 kills on .250 hitting to go with 19 digs and two aces.
 
It was Meyers' seventh double-double of the season for the Vikings, and she was just one dig away from the first 20-20 match of her career.
 
"She's getting us out of binds. She's passing more than anyone else. She was almost worth a set-worth of points with 20 kills and two aces, which is amazing. And she made some plays, especially at the end there, that I thought were pivotal in terms of keeping our momentum," Seemann said of Meyers.
 
Meyers was her most impactful in the opening set when the Vikings withstood the Beavers' strong start offensively. Meyers finished with eight of the Vikings' 14 kills in the opening set, while hitting .467 in the frame.
 
It wasn't Meyers, but Lauryn Anderson who had two key points in a 3-0 run that edged the Vikings ahead at 17-14, however. Anderson combined with freshman Devon DeNecochea for a block to make it 16-14, then put down an over-pass for a kill on the next point.
 
Meyers answered back-to-back points for the Beavers with a kill to make it 21-18, then found the floor again a few points later to put the Vikings up 24-20. Meyers' most important kill would still come later, however, as the Beavers erased three straight set points only to have Meyers convert on the fourth with her eighth kill of the opening set.
 
The second set wouldn't carry nearly as much drama. The Vikings led 14-6 midway through the set, then used a 7-1 run that featured two kills and two aces from Meyers to go up 22-11. Ashleigh Barto would then close out the set with her fourth kill of the match a few points later.
 
The Beavers refused to be swept this time around, however. After the Vikings held them .031 in the second set, the Beavers answered with a .400 mark in the third set while controlling most of the set en route to a 25-18 victory. It was the first time this season that the Vikings had dropped the third set when going up 2-0 in the match.
 
But the Vikings proved up for the challenge early in the fourth set, going on a 6-0 run to break a five-all tie. Jasmine Powell had two kills during the run, as did Gabby Hollins. The Beavers got back within two points a couple of times, but a key 8-1 run would put the Vikings in control for good at 21-13. A rare red card on the Beavers after the refs called a ball handling error on them kickstarted the run. The red card made it 16-12, while Anderson would add her third kill of the match on the next point.
 
Anderson aced the Beavers a couple points later to put the Vikings up 19-13, while a kill from Barto preceded back-to-back kills from Hollins that put the Vikings up 22-13. It was only a matter of time after that, with Barto and Powell putting the final touches on the victory with a combo block on match point.
 
Outside of Meyers, Hollins recorded 14 kills on .357 hitting against the Beavers. Hollins also had nine kills on .375 hitting in Thursday's sweep, leaving her with a weekend total of 23 kills on .364 hitting against the Vikings' in-state rivals.
 
Barto added six kills on .600 hitting, while Powell (5), DeNecochea (4) and Anderson (3) chipped in offensively as well.
 
DeNecochea's four kills came on only four swings, as she hit 1.000 in the match. It was a solid showing for the freshman, who was seeing her most extensive action to date as the second right-side hitter in the Vikings' 6-2 formation.
 
"She brought a certain spark," Seemann said of DeNecochea. "It's kind of the same theme as other times this season for us. You're seeing kids coming on for the first time and we're still able to win with those kids. That says a lot about everybody in our gym."
 
Setters Ella Hartford and Madison Friebel added 22 and 19 assists, respectively. Hartford was a dig away from a double-double, as she also had nine digs in the match.
 
Freshman libero Paige Stepaniuk filled the stat sheet again for the Vikings while locking down the back row. Thursday, Stepaniuk finished with 10 digs, six assists and four aces against the Beavers. Saturday, the freshman posted 13 digs, seven assists and an ace.
 
The Vikings also posted nine blocks against the Beavers for the second straight match, tying their season high once again. Barto led the team with five, while Anderson added four. Powell and DeNecochea also contributed with three each.
 
Saturday's win over the Beavers closes out the non-conference schedule for the Vikings. At 7-4, the Vikings are entering Big Sky play with their best record since they went 9-3 in non-conference play in 2017.
 
The Vikings can take confidence into this Thursday's conference opener at Idaho State, then. They have an in-state sweep of the Beavers to spur them on after all.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improved to 35-11 all time against Oregon State with Saturday's win…The Beavers had been 7-0 against the Vikings since 1990 before the Vikings' three recent wins in the teams' series…The Vikings have now won four matches this season when their opponent has hit over .200, something they never did last season…The Vikings recorded seven aces as a team, with Friebel and Meyers leading with two each...Saturday's sweep completed a three-win day for the Vikings, as the Portland State women's cross country team won at the Oak Knoll Loop Run, while the Portland State football team beat North American, 91-0, earlier in the day.
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