PORTLAND, Ore. — There was no trick. It was all treat on Halloween night at Viking Pavilion for the Portland State volleyball team. Facing an Eastern Washington team that had won six of its last seven matches, the Vikings put together a season's best performance in a 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20) win over the Eagles.
 
"We won the big moments tonight," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said after the match. "We wanted them to win moments. I didn't want it to be a weight-bearing thing like, 'let's win tonight because we're so sick of losing.' I just wanted us to win moments and we did that. They embraced it and, as a result, we put ourselves in position to win."
 
The Eagles (10-10, 6-4 Big Sky) came into Thursday with their lone recent loss coming against conference-leader Northern Colorado. They also came in sporting the 14th-best blocking team in the nation, with Bri Gunderson ranked sixth nationally individually. And yet, the Vikings (5-15, 4-5 Big Sky) put together the better defensive performance.
 
The Vikings out-blocked the Eagles 9.0-to-8.0, making them only the third team – and first Big Sky team – to out-block the Eagles this season. They also set a season high with 84 digs, six more than their previous season high which came in five sets against Nevada. Finally, they held the Eagles to their lowest hitting percentage in a Big Sky match this season at .137, while hitting .234 themselves.
 
"We knew we had to influence them at the net, for sure, but by doing that we knew we had to leave some of their hitters alone, which is where Paige [Stepaniuk, the Vikings' sophomore libero] came in," Seemann said of the team's defense.
 
Three different Vikings finished with at least four blocks in the match. Reese Biesemeyer led the way with five, including a solo block on set point in the third set that gave the Vikings a critical 2-1 lead in the match. Naomi White and Carisa Barron then added four each.
 
Sophomore libero Paige Stepaniuk anchored the back row as she flew around the court with seemingly boundless energy. Coming off a weekend in which she totaled 42 digs against Idaho State and Weber State, Stepaniuk upped her game yet again with a career-high 30 digs against the Eagles. She had nine digs in each of the last three sets of the match, while adding three assists and an ace.
 
Over her last three matches, Stepaniuk is now averaging 6.55 digs per set, which is a career best for her over a three-match stretch.
 
"Tonight is easily one of the best matches of her career," Seemann said of Stepaniuk. "She's getting more confident in her positioning. She's getting more confident in her moves. She's taking more court. She's just doing a great job right now."
 
Seemann praised the Vikings' serve receive in helping fuel the team's defense and kickstart the offense. Makayla Lewis and Barron led that effort with 31 and 28 zero receptions, respectively.
 
For Lewis, her performance in serve receive seemed to fuel her offense as she came out swinging hard against the Eagles. Lewis finished with a season-high 17 kills on .222 hitting, while adding 11 digs for her 31st-career double-double at Portland State.
 
"Makayla took on some tough serves and put them on point," Seemann said of Lewis. "They're a really good serving team, but she did a great job of keeping us in system. That was where she showed guts tonight. She's making good decisions."
 
Lewis helped steady what was a balanced offense for the Vikings. Six different Vikings recorded at least five kills in Thursday's match, a depth of attack the Vikings haven't had since they had five players record 10+ kills against Montana on Sept. 28.
 
Besides Lewis, Barron added 14 kills to go with 10 digs, giving Barron her third double-double in the Vikings' last four matches. Barron also led the Vikings with three aces in the match, as they out-aced the Eagles 9-to-5. White followed with nine kills on .368 hitting, while Biesemeyer chipped in eight kills on .353 hitting.
 
Setters Ella Hartford and Allison Panter orchestrated the offense with 28 and 22 assists, respectively. Hartford added 10 digs to her 28 assists to record her team-high sixth double-double of the season. Panter's 22 assists, meanwhile, marked a new career high for the freshman.
 
Both Hartford and Panter made a point to find their right-side hitters. That had been missing from the Viking offense recently. But Thursday night, Devon DeNecochea and Tyra Schaub combined for 11 kills from the right side, with each hitting .385 or better.
 
Schaub was a particular bright spot for the Vikings after she came in for the first time midway through the second set. Schaub had two kills in the third set, then added three in the fourth set as she hit .556 in the match.
 
Freshman Cali-Jo Shigemasa also made an impact after coming off the Vikings' bench. She served during a 5-0 run in the third set that saw the Vikings turn an 18-14 deficit into a 19-18 lead.
 
"Our gym is our gym. We've been doing that in practice all year," Seemann said of his team's bench.
 
"Tyra's been doing that to us for the last four weeks. She's earned it. She's earned the team's trust. She comes in and executes. She's not going to make a lot of errors, and in this case, she found a lot of ways to score. She's a smart player."
 
Shigemasa's run of serve in the third set helped the Vikings re-establish themselves after the Eagles had leveled the match at a set apiece. The Vikings came out firing in the first set, outhitting the Eagles .379-to-.137 in the frame. The Eagles responded with a hot start to the second set – they were hitting .458 at the 18-12 mark of the set – before holding on for a close set win.
 
The Eagles appeared to take momentum in the third set before Shigemasa led the Vikings to the 5-0 run that gave them the lead back. The set stayed close, as the teams tied at 19-19, 22-22 and 23-23, but a kill from Barron, followed by Biesemeyer's solo block at the net, helped the Vikings edge ahead.
 
Biesemeyer recorded kills on back-to-back points to give the Vikings a 14-10 midway through the fourth set. The Eagles made one last push with an 8-1 run to take an 18-15 lead, but the Vikings responded by winning 10 of the last 12 points to close out the match. Schaub had the kill to tie it at 19-all in the fourth set, while White followed with back-to-back kills to give the Vikings a two-point lead. A combo block between Barron and Biesemeyer set up match point at 24-20, which the Vikings converted right away as their defense forced an Eagle error.
 
"Our team has been working their ass off. I wouldn't say that about a team if I didn't believe it. But they're taking extra reps every single time. We'll say, 'take Monday off." And they're still coming in, not taking it off. So, they earned it. They worked their ass off, and they earned it."
 
The Vikings will now look to get back to .500 in Big Sky play with a win over Idaho Saturday. They've already beaten the Vandals once this season, as the Vikings won a four-set match in Moscow to open Big Sky play on Sept. 26.
 
Play defense like they did Thursday night, and it'll be another treat for Viking fans Saturday.
 
Who says Halloween has to end, after all?
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improved to 37-31 all-time against the Eagles with Thursday's win…Lewis' 31st-career double-double moved her into a tie with Whitney Phillips (2009-10) for sixth all-time at Portland State…Six different players contributed to the Vikings' nine aces between Barron (3), Panter (2), Biesemeyer (1), Hartford (1), Shigemasa (1) and Stepaniuk (1).
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