PORTLAND, Ore. — After a standout performance against Eastern Washington Thursday, there was a line of thinking that the Portland State volleyball team could overlook a struggling Idaho team. Perhaps the Vikings had eaten too much Halloween candy following the win over the Eagles and would look sluggish.
 
Not so, as the Vikings (6-15, 5-5 Big Sky) swept past the Vandals (1-21, 0-11 Big Sky) in three sets, 25-14, 25-19, 25-8, at Viking Pavilion. The win gets the Vikings back to .500 in Big Sky play, heading into a crucial four-match road trip over the next two weeks.
 
"Just in terms of our willingness to take care of our side of things and to push and not take your foot off the gas, I thought that was a sign of a mature team, a hungry team," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said after the win.
 
The only dip the Vikings may have shown Saturday would have been in the second set. The Vikings got a bit predictable early in the set, leading to four blocks for the Vandals on their first 10 points in the frame. But the Vikings closed the set on a 6-1 run that featured two aces for sophomore libero Paige Stepaniuk.
 
Stepaniuk was one of three different Vikings to record at least three aces in the match. She tied her career high with four aces, while Allison Panter and Carisa Barron added three each. Panter's three aces continued a strong recent run from the service line for the freshman. She also had three aces against Sacramento State on Oct. 18 and Weber State last Saturday, and now has 11 aces over the Vikings' last four matches.
 
"There are different facets of the 6-2 system where we're still vulnerable, but there are also some tremendous advantages to it. Alli serving being one," Seemann said.
 
"But especially in our gym, we're getting more and more confident from the end line and I'm always challenging them to hold their serve as much as possible."
 
The Vikings finished with 13 aces as a team. They had already surpassed their previous season high of 10 by the end of the second set. The Vikings had 11 aces at that point, leaving the three-set match record of 17 from a match against Western New Mexico on Sept. 14, 1995, on notice.
 
The Vikings wouldn't get there in the end, but they hardly needed to. The offense picked up again in the third set, recording 13 kills on .448 hitting. Devon DeNecochea recorded six kills on nine swings in the frame, as she put the finishing touches on a career night for her. DeNecochea finished with a career-high 10 kills on .667 hitting, while adding three blocks.
 
It was the match the Vikings have been waiting for, as they've searched for production from their right-side hitters since losing Delaney Nicoll to injury at the beginning of October.
 
"She did great. She hit cleanly. She was productive and most importantly, she was a strong blocker," Seemann said of DeNecochea.
 
Makayla Lewis led the Viking offense early in the match. She had six kills on 11 swings without an error in the first set. Four of Lewis' six first-set kills came as part of an 11-3 start for the Vikings.
 
The Vikings' first-set lead swelled to 17-5 before the Vandals started to make in-roads in the match. The Vandals led early in the second set, and stayed in touch with the Vikings even after PSU took a 13-7 lead after back-to-back aces from Stepaniuk. The Vandals eventually got back within one at 19-18 in the second set, but the Vikings got back on Stepaniuk's serve who finished the set with two more aces sandwiched around a kill from Barron.
 
The third set was all Vikings as they held the Vandals to eight points, the first time they've held an opponent to less than 10 points in a 25-point set since they held Montana State to seven points in the fourth set of their Big Sky semifinal win on Nov. 25, 2022.
 
Lewis finished with 11 kills on .308 hitting to lead the Vikings. DeNecochea followed with her 10 kills on .667 hitting, while Barron and Naomi White added six kills each. White's six kills came on .500 hitting, while she also led the Vikings at the net with five blocks.
 
Saturday's win leaves the Vikings 4-2 at Viking Pavilion in Big Sky play. The question for the Vikings to answer now is whether they can win on the road. They'll get plenty of chances over the next two weeks, as the Vikings play at Northern Arizona (Nov. 7), Northern Colorado (Nov. 9), Montana State (Nov. 14) and Montana (Nov. 16)
 
 But this weekend's 2-0 homestand will certainly help the team's confidence going into that road trip.
 
"This is what we needed. We're going to see four really tough teams on the road. But we couldn't ask for a better lift-off point," Seemann said.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improved to 23-9 all-time against the Vandals with Saturday's win…Stepaniuk led all players with 12 digs in the match…Setter Ella Hartford recorded 24 assists and six digs to go with an ace…The Vikings out-blocked the Vandals 8.0-to-6.0 Saturday.
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