PORTLAND, Ore. - After a tough setback on Thursday, Portland State found its momentum again in a big way on Saturday, recording its first sweep of the season in dominant fashion with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-18) victory over Northern Arizona in Viking Pavilion.

Portland State recorded its first 3-0 win since sweeping Eastern Washington on Nov 4 of last season. The Vikings won their fifth straight contest against Northern Arizona, improving to 4-12 overall this season with a winning record in Big Sky play at 3-2. Northern Arizona is now 7-9 overall and remained winless at 0-5 in conference play.

PSU put together its most complete match of the season and it started at the service line. The Viking recorded eight service aces, led by a career-high four aces from Ella Hartford, with a season-low two service errors. It marked the most aces the team has had in a three-set match this year and was a stark improvement after tallying 11 service errors on Thursday. Meanwhile, NAU had just one service ace, tied for the fewest PSU has allowed this season, and nine errors.

The Vikings outhit the Lumberjacks .280-.146, posting their second highest hitting percentage of the season and their second lowest opposing hitting percentage this year. PSU also had a 5-2 edge in blocks and a 50-41 advantage in digs on the day.

Carisa Barron led PSU in kills for the fifth straight match, tallying 11 and adding seven digs. Mikayla Lewis had nine kills and seven digs and Naomi White had another big match, hitting .571 with eight kills and no errors.The sophomore has 40 kills and just three attack errors over the last six matches, hitting better than .340 in all of them.

Freshman Reese Biesemeyer added eight kills and four blocks hitting .462. Hatford had a match-high 37 assists and seven digs and Paige Stepaniuk tallied 13 digs. Senior outside hitter Delaney Nicoll missed her second straight match due to injury.

Portland State dominated the opening set, holding NAU to .029 hitting in the frame. PSU was +5 from the service line in the first set, tallying three aces and no service errors while the Lumberjacks had no aces and two errors. 

The Vikings held a 10-8 lead before pulling away with an 8-0 run that included two kills from White and two kills from Lewis. The Lumberjacks called both of their timeouts during the run but couldn't prevent the Viks from opening an 18-8 lead and cruising to a 25-14 set victory.

PSU used another big early run in the second set to pull away, turning a 6-4 lead into an 11-4 advantage with five straight points. NAU got back within a 14-12 deficit, but another 5-0 run by the Vikings built a seven point lead. The Viks hit .303 in the second set with 14 kills and only four attack errors, ending the set on White's fifth kill of the match. 

NAU turned the tables at the start of the third set, jumping to a 4-0 lead. It was a 12-8 lead for the visitors until PSU went on a 7-0 run to move ahead 15-12. The Lumberjacks battled back to even the set at 17-17 but the Vikings scored eighth of the next nine points, closing the match on a 5-0 run with consecutive kills by Barron to end it.

Portland State stays at home for another match in Viking Pavilion at 7 p.m. on Friday, looking for some revenge against Sacramento State. The Hornets beat the Vikings 3-0 in Sacramento on Oct. 4.