The Portland State volleyball team looked to continue their winning ways at home but ran into a perennial Big Sky power in Northern Colorado and came up on the short end of a 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-22) score on Thursday night at Viking Pavilion.

Portland State (3-12, 2-2 BSC) dropped its second straight Big Sky match after opening conference play with a pair of wins. Northern Colorado (12-5, 3-1 BSC) remained undefeated on the road this season at 7-0 in true road matches. The Bears had a nearly 72% sideout percentage on the night, continuously preventing the Vikings from going on extended runs.

Carisa Barron led PSU in kills for the fourth straight match, tallying six kills, while she also led the team with nine digs. Naomi White had another solid night, tallying five kills and three blocks while hitting .417. The sophomore has now hit better than .340 in four straight matches with 32 kills and just three attack errors over the stretch. 

Sophomore Devon DeNecochea and freshman Reese Biesemeyer each set new career highs with five blocks apiece in the match. Ella Hartford paced the team with 14 assists and two service aces on the night.

The Vikings continued to be hampered by injuries as senior outside hitter Delaney Nicoll, who hit .345 with 13 kills in PSU's win over Montana in its last home match, missed her first match of the season on Thursday.
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Northern Colorado outhit Portland State .238-.086 on the night and had a slight 9-8 edge in blocks. Both teams struggled mightily from the service line, with Northern Colorado committing 15 service errors and PSU recording 11 service errors with each totaling four aces. 

It was a tight first set as neither team led by more than four points at any time and both squads couldn't find much offensive momentum. Service errors accounted for 11 points in the set, with UNC tallying seven and the Vikings recording four, while each team totaled three blocks. Barron had four kills on .375 hitting in the set for the Vikings but the rest of the team totaled just four kills.  

The Vikings had an early 8-7 lead before UNC tallied four straight points to jump ahead 11-8. The Bears held a slim lead through the remainder of the set, as the Vikings stayed within striking distance but were not able to go on any extended runs. PSU was within two points at 23-21 after a Northern Colorado service error, but the Bears got a kill from Alayna Tessena and finished the set 25-21 after a Viking attack error.

PSU jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second set on two kills and a block and extended to a 5-1 advantage on an ace from Allison Panter. The Viks led by as many as six points in the early going and were ahead 12-7 after a DeNecochea kill, but the Bears answered with a 9-1 run to pull ahead 16-13.

UNC led by at least two points for the remainder of the set. The visitors hit .289 in the second set and cleaned up their service game with just two errors in the set. The Vikings hit just .103 in the second set as the Bears took a 2-0 lead.

The Bears started the third set strong and had a 9-6 lead but the Vikings fought back and drew even at 17-17 with a 4-1 run, capped by an ace from Hartford. After the Bears moved back ahead 19-17, PSU took a timeout and responded with a kill from DeNecochea and a solo block by White to level the set at 19-19.

It was tied again at 20-20 but the Bears scored five of the next seven points, completing a sweep with a 25-22 set win.

The Vikings continue their home stand hosting Northern Arizona on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Viking Pavilion. The Lumberjacks are 7-8 overall and 0-4 in the Big Sky after a 3-1 loss at Sacramento State on Thursday.
 
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