PORTLAND, Ore. — Between replacing five starters and some untimely injuries during fall camp, the Portland State volleyball team knew it'd need to be patient as it found its groove this preseason. Friday's season opener against San Francisco didn't end up the way anyone would have wanted, but it was still the first step in that process.
An error-filled first set got the Vikings off to a tough start, and they couldn't recover, falling in three sets to the Dons, 25-13, 25-20, 25-19.
The Vikings (0-1) can take pride in how they responded to the rough opening set. After committing 16 attack errors in the opening frame when they hit negative-.205, the Vikings were in the positive over the final two frames. It wasn't enough in the end, though, as the Dons (1-0) led wire-to-wire in all three sets.
"I thought we did, overall, a pretty good job of passing against a pretty good serving team. We had identified that as one of the main areas that needed a lot of attention and work. But I think that team exposed the other parts that we need to work on now," head coach
Michael Seemann said.
"This team [USF] made us change a little bit. Typically, we've been dependent on our pins. But I think what we learned about ourselves as this match went on – and that team made us learn about ourselves – is we can get production out of our middles. And that can be something that we carry over into the future."
Naomi White led the charge from the middle, delivering pretty much whenever the Vikings could find her. She recorded four kills on only seven swings in the opening set and finished with nine kills on .304 hitting in the match.
Fellow middle blockers
Taylor Hunter and Reese Biesmeyer both produced some positive moments for the Vikings of their own. Hunter recorded three kills on four swings in the second set when she also recorded the Vikings' lone ace in the match. Biesemeyer, meanwhile, played the third set opposite White and recorded two kills and a block in what was the first official action of her collegiate career.
The Vikings' pin hitters also picked themselves up after the tough first set.
Carisa Barron showed particular resilience as she came back from committing four errors in the first set to record nine of her team-high 10 kills over the final two frames of the match. Barron was at her best in the second set, when she recorded six kills on .211 hitting.
"We weren't able to score how we've typically scored. That put us into a funk momentarily, but I think we responded the way we should, which is to find different ways to score," Seemann said of his team's resiliency.
That attitude will be key for the Vikings as they look to bounce back over their final two matches at the Rose City Showdown presented by Hotel Vance.
It's clear where the Vikings will need to find stronger footing after Friday. The Dons dominated the net, out-blocking the Vikings 11.0-to-2.0. That contributed to the Vikings' high error tally, which in turn led to a .235-to-.026 advantage for the Dons in hitting percentage.
The Vikings will also hope to level the playing field in the serving game. Seemann said he was pleased with how the Vikings passed the ball against a tough serving team in the Dons. However, the Vikings only produced one ace against four for the Dons. That may have been a bit of a surprise after the Vikings recorded 11 aces in their exhibition win over Central Washington last Sunday.
Seemann noted another positive in the play of his back row, which extended rallies as the match went on.
Makayla Lewis and
Paige Stepaniuk led the back row with 11 digs each, while
Delaney Nicoll added nine.
The challenge won't get any easier for the Vikings Saturday, as they face Cal out of the Atlantic Coast Conference at 6 p.m. Cal swept Nevada in the first match of the Rose City Showdown presented by Hotel Vance Friday.
"We've got to clear the slate. We've got to take care of our bodies and come in fresh tomorrow," Seemann said of turning the page on Friday's loss. "The lessons that I want to carry over are, our middles can produce, and then defensively, we have to have a defensive answer when our setter is in the front row."
It's a process. Friday's match was the first step. The Vikings can now take a minute to rest before taking another step Saturday.
Match Notes: The Vikings fell to 3-4 all-time against San Francisco with Friday's loss…Friday's match was the first meeting between the Vikings and Dons since Nov. 25, 2006…Lewis, who was playing in her first official match since suffering an ACL tear in the opening match of last season, now needs 12 more kills to reach 1,000 in her career…The Vikings' hitting percentage of .026 was their lowest since hitting negative-.047 against Oregon on Aug. 28, 2022.
