PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland State head volleyball coach Michael Seemann said he didn't know what to expect when his team participated in its annual Freshman Idol at its team retreat at Rockaway Beach last week.
 
The competition – named Freshman Idol even though everyone participates in what amounts to a lip sync battle in front of a panel of PSU coaches – had gone through some lukewarm years. Maybe one or two players would be into it, but the rest of their group would gladly fade into the background as backup singers.
 
Not this year.
 
 "It was awesome. We had five rounds and everyone was into it. That's what probably blew us all away. They just went off. It's what made the whole trip," Seemann said.
 
The middles and liberos ended up tying after four rounds, sending it to a tiebreaking fifth round between Naomi White, representing the middles, and Paige Stepaniuk, representing the liberos. White ended up winning with a rendition of a song by the hip hop duo City Girls.
 
Of course, until the NCAA changes its rules to replace a fifth set with a lip sync battle, the team's skills in that regard aren't likely to directly affect results on the court. But the team chemistry, which the team showed in spades throughout the retreat, will make a difference this season.
 
"Everybody was supporting each other, which was a really good feeling," Seemann said of the Freshman Idol experience. "It was just an awesome, awesome time. That's where I'm like, the character of this team is different. It's very, very supportive and they're nice people, and they're good people, and that makes a huge difference. I think now, the challenge for myself and for them is to make sure that translates into making us a better team on the court."
 
That's the task ahead of this year's squad, which has to replace five starters and integrate seven newcomers. The fact that a group with so many newcomers can have such supportive chemistry in such a short time is admirable, but the Vikings know they'll need more than that to compete within the Big Sky Conference again this year.
 
Seemann sees the first step in that regard as establishing a solid first contact. It's the area of the game where the Vikings are a bit greener than they have been in the past. Stepaniuk held down one of the passing roles while starting the majority of matches as a freshman libero last season. Kate Hansen also helped in that regard last season, while freshman Cali-Jo Shigemasa can be counted on, as well.
 
But beyond the liberos/defensive specialists, the Vikings have a lot of new faces. Makayla Lewis has been a reliable passer previously as part of back-to-back All-Big Sky first-team honors in 2021 and 2022. But she hasn't played in a match since suffering an ACL injury during the opening match of last season. Delaney Nicoll can potentially help, but she's also a new face in a passing role for the Vikings since she played on the right side last season. Nicoll played on the left while at Idaho from 2020-22, so she has the skills, it's just a matter of meshing with her new teammates.
 
The other two potential left sides are both newcomers in Carisa Barron and Tyra Schaub. In Barron's case, she played as a setter and right side for the past four years at CSUN – and could still slide in there this season – but has been filling a need on the left side during fall camp. Schaub, meanwhile, joined the Vikings from Gonzaga before winter term last year.
 
Finding passers that mesh together will be key for the Vikings during the rest of fall camp and into preseason. Seemann has been looking for that within his drills. Always one to reinforce lessons within six-on-six competitions, Seemann has set up a drill for just that purpose. When playing a full set, not only do teams have to score 25 points to win a set, they also have to win in terminal serving by having more aces and fewer errors than the other team.
 
Hand-in-hand with the emphasis on passing has been Seemann's stress on first-swing kills. To that end, the Vikings have been playing a similar game to the passing drill where teams have to both outscore their opponents within a set but also record more first-swing kills.
 
"I think that has to be an expectation," Seemann said of the importance of putting away a first-ball kill. "If we're up near in the 60th percentile of that, or even above 62 or 63, then we're beating a lot of teams if our defense does what it usually does."
 
Lewis was a reliable point scorer in that regard before her injury. She's still working her way back to that level, however. She wasn't fully cleared until the end of July, and so she's been working on finding other ways to score during fall camp.
 
It's a tough adjustment since Lewis averaged 3.23 kills per set in 2021 and then 3.51 in 2022 while simply overpowering an opposing block. But at the same time, a craftier Lewis could be an even deadlier Lewis once she's recovered further physically.
 
"The whole curve seems to be going in the right direction," Seemann said of Lewis' return to play. "Today was better than yesterday. She's gotten some good cracks on the ball. She's really trying to experiment with different ways to score that she's not used to. And I think that's only going to make her a better player in the end."
 
Nicoll, who dealt with her own return to play after a long injury last season, also emerged as a reliable point scorer for the Vikings late last fall. Nicoll averaged 1.92 kills per set on .362 hitting during the Vikings' run of six wins in seven matches from Oct. 19 to Nov. 10 last season. That was when she was playing on the right, but Nicoll has experience producing on the left. She averaged over 3.00 kills per set for Idaho during her last full season of play on the left in the fall of 2021.
 
The Vikings also hope to see a return to form for its defense this fall. Last season, 12 of the team's 16 conference opponents hit .200 or better against the Vikings, while three conference opponents hit .300 or better. All told, opponents hit .218 against the Vikings last season, which was the highest mark for Viking opponents since 2018.
 
Solid passing, first-ball kills, and terminal serving will all help see that number return to below .200, as will better blocking at the net.
 
Like other areas of the court, it will be mostly new faces for the Vikings in the middle of the net. The only returner (White) played in only six sets across three matches last season. Even still, White has adjusted to the spotlight seamlessly, not only in the lip sync battle, but also during the team's spring season and the early part of fall camp.
 
She won't need to be the veteran voice within the position group, either. Taylor Hunter joined the Vikings in time for their spring season and brings a wealth of experience, having started every match of the past three seasons for CSUN. She averaged a career-best 0.87 blocks per set as a redshirt sophomore in 2022, and followed with a career-best 1.94 kills per set as a redshirt junior in 2023.
 
The other new face in the middle is freshman Reese Biesemeyer. Biesemeyer was one that Seemann said came out of her shell at the team's retreat and has performed well when inserted into the lineup this fall. She was a first-team all-district player in high school, and had a successful club career that included a first-place finish at the 2023 Arizona Region Tournament with Arizona Storm Elite.
 
Helping the block on the right side will be a combination of Devon DeNecochea and Sydney Stenson. DeNecochea impressed in limited action last season. She only played in 14 sets, but four of those came in the Vikings' 3-1 home win over Oregon State last season in which DeNecochea recorded four kills on all four of her attempts, hitting 1.000 as the Vikings completed a season sweep of the Beavers.
 
Stenson joined the Vikings from UNLV where she helped the Rebels win a Mountain West Conference regular-season title in 2022. She was a standout player coming out of high school, being named the 2021 5A_Jeffco Conference Player of the Year while setting four school records between career blocks (197), kills in a match (32), kills in a season (341) and hitting percentage in a match (.824).
 
Stenson was one of five newcomers who joined the Vikings ahead of the spring season, a fact that should help the Vikings this fall. Out of the team's seven newcomers, only Biesemeyer and Shigemasa have been new as of the fall. Otherwise, Barron, Hunter, Schaub, Stenson and freshman Allison Panter all joined the Vikings ahead of the 2024 winter or spring terms.
 
Panter figured to be headed for a shared role with fellow setter Ella Hartford in a 6-2 formation for the Vikings before going down with an ankle injury on the second day of fall camp. Seemann expects her back at some point during the preseason, but exactly when remains to be seen.
 
That figures to test another hallmark of Seemann's teams in the past, which has been their versatility. This year's team has already shown it a bit with Barron's move to the left side. Shigemasa has also stepped up in that regard despite being a true freshman as she's spent time practicing at setter with Panter out.
 
The versatility means Seemann won't feel pressure to settle on a lineup very early in the preseason. Everyone will likely get a look as the Vikings try to find what combinations work ahead of the conference season.
 
The team already knows they can handle adversity given Panter's injury. It was another thing Seemann tested during the team retreat. While Freshman Idol may be what everyone remembers, the Vikings also spent time practicing in a foreign gym at the Neah-Kah-Nie High School in Rockaway Beach. Seemann wanted to see how his team adjusted to a new environment and traveled together, and everything met his expectations.
 
Seemann even went as far as calling the entire retreat "probably the best outing we've ever had as a team." High praise.
 
So, if you hear some City Girls songs on the pregame playlist for the Vikings this season – the radio edits, at least – then you'll know why.