PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State volleyball team won't like a second straight loss to open its 2024 season. But anyone who was at both matches the team has played so far at the Rose City Showdown presented by Hotel Vance will know the stark differences between the two.
 
While Saturday's match against Cal (3-0) ended in another 3-0 loss (25-23, 25-15, 25-23) for the Vikings (0-2), they showed vast improvements from Friday to Saturday, making it feel like a win will come sooner rather than later.
 
"We did a much better job executing tonight with the exception of a couple serving runs. It was a fairly even match overall," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said afterwards.
 
"This team is going the right direction and I'm excited for another opportunity tomorrow against Nevada [1 p.m. start]."
 
Pick a statistical category and the Vikings likely showed improvements in it from Friday to Saturday. The most obvious for anyone in Viking Pavilion was the Vikings' play at the net. A day after San Francisco out-blocked the Vikings 11.0-to-2.0, the Vikings out-blocked the Bears 9.0-to-7.0. And that was no small feat considering the Bears had averaged 2.69 blocks per set over their first two matches of the season.
 
Taylor Hunter contributed to the improvements at the net. She led the Vikings with five blocks individually, four of which came in the opening set. Fellow middle blocker Naomi White added another three blocks, while Makayla Lewis, Delaney Nicoll and Ella Hartford all contributed two each.
 
The better blocking helped open up the offense for the Vikings, who went from hitting .026 Friday night against San Francisco to .221 Saturday against the Bears. No player epitomized that improvement more than Delaney Nicoll, who went from hitting in the negative Friday to recording 10 kills on .381 hitting Saturday. Lewis was another player who hit in the negative Friday, but bounced back to record a team-high 11 kills on .188 hitting Saturday.
 
Both Lewis and Nicoll were at their best in the third set when the Vikings hit .400 as a team while recording 18 kills – only one kill fewer than they had in the first and second sets combined. Nicoll led the way with six kills on .600 hitting in the set, while Lewis was right behind her with five kills on .556 hitting.
 
The Vikings had chances in both the first and third sets when a win in either could have helped change the outcome.
 
The first set featured a big comeback late in the set from the Vikings. Cal led 21-14 when the Vikings rattled off nine of the next 11 points to tie it at 23-all. Hunter shined during the run, recording back-to-back blocks to get the Vikings back within three, then adding a kill two points later.  Two kills from Cal's Mikayla Hayden got the Bears out of the jam, however.
 
The Bears controlled much of the second set, but the Vikings came back to lead for much of the third. The Vikings led throughout the early part of the set until a 6-2 run saw the Bears edge ahead, 18-17.
 
Lewis and Nicoll staked the Vikings out to their early lead in the fourth. Both players recorded four kills each over the Vikings' first 15 points in the set. Carisa Barron added three early kills of her own during that stretch, while White chipped in another two.
 
Nicoll came up big again late, recording a kill before combining with White for a block to make it 23-all in the third. Again, the Bears got out of it, though, going to Hayden and Peyton Dejardin for back-to-back kills to end the match.
 
Outside of Lewis and Nicoll, Barron finished with seven kills to go with a team-high seven digs. Hunter finished with five kills on .308 hitting to go with her five blocks.
 
Another area of improvement for the Vikings in the match was from the service line. A day after they recorded only one ace against San Francisco, they recorded six against the Bears. Lewis led the way with three aces, while Hunter, Hartford and Paige Stepaniuk added one each.
 
The Vikings will still look for improvements defensively. Cal outhit them .337-to-.221 Saturday, and hit .400 or better in the second and third sets. San Francisco also outhit the Vikings Friday, .235-to-.026.
 
So, there's still work to do certainly. But the team's stock is rising. The improvements made Saturday should pay dividends in the near future.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings fell to 2-6 all-time against Cal with Saturday's loss…Lewis needs only one kill on Sunday to reach 1,000 in her collegiate career…Hartford tied her career high with 30 assists in the match.
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