PHOENIX, Ariz. — The Portland State volleyball team grouped together after the Vikings' 3-0 loss to Pacific Saturday night at the GCU Classic. The loss dropped the Vikings to 0-8 on the season, and even as some of those losses could have been wins, the Vikings needed to be frank with themselves.
 
The result? A breakthrough 3-1 win (25-17, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21) Sunday over Butler at Global Credit Union Arena.
 
"We had a very candid talk about how we need to operate as a team better and focus on execution," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said of the team's meeting after Saturday's match.
 
"This was a group effort. Everyone believed we could do it and we did."
 
Fans could see a change in the Vikings (1-8) from the jump Sunday. The Vikings hadn't won the opening set of any match this season, and yet cruised to a 25-17 opening-set victory in which they outhit the Bulldogs (2-7) .241-to-.029.
 
The Vikings established a lot of the key themes to Sunday's victory early in that first set. A 7-0 run on Reese Biesemeyer's serve led the Vikings to an early 8-2 lead. Within those first eight points were four blocks, as the Vikings snuffed out what the Bulldogs tried to do offensively.
 
The Vikings went on to record a season-high 14 blocks while holding Butler to.138 hitting, a season-low for a Viking opponent.
 
"We got a lot of quality touches at the net, and we were able to transition effectively," Seemann said of the team's efforts at the net.
 
"Winning the first set gave us a strong belief that we were capable of winning."
 
The Vikings never gave up the lead once they claimed it in the first set. The Bulldogs got within two points at 16-14, but the Vikings responded with a 9-3 run to close out the set.
 
The Bulldogs kept the second set tighter, eventually taking a 14-13 lead midway through the frame. But Biesemeyer answered the call at that point, recording back-to-back kills to push the Vikings back in front at 16-14, then serving for a 4-0 run that gave the Vikings a five-point lead again at 20-15.
 
Biesemeyer and fellow middle blocker Naomi White's presence in the middle helped open things up for the Vikings' pin hitters Sunday. Carisa Barron and Makayla Lewis took advantage, especially Barron in a five-kill second set.
 
Barron went on to lead the Vikings in both kills (13) and digs (14) Sunday, recording the first double-double of her Viking career. Lewis joined her with another double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs, while White (nine kills, nine blocks) and setter Ella Hartford (39 assists, nine digs) nearly joined them with double-doubles of their own.
 
Hartford had perhaps the best all-around match of her career. In addition to her 39 assists and nine digs, she set career highs for blocks (five) and kills (two), while tying another career high with three aces.
 
Her even distribution offensively helped the Vikings produce points throughout Sunday's match. Four different Vikings recorded at least eight kills in the match, with Delaney Nicoll joining Barron (13), Lewis (10) and White (nine) with eight of her own. That's not even counting Biesemeyer, who finished with six kills on a team-best .455 hitting percentage.
 
No Viking hit below .175 in the match, while the Vikings outhit the Bulldogs .246-to-.138 as a team.
 
Still, the Vikings needed to close out the match after Butler took a close third set, 25-23. The Bulldogs opened a 13-10 in the fourth set, but the Vikings responded with four straight points on Biesemeyer's serve – the third significant run on her serve in the match – to re-take the lead at 14-13.
 
The teams stayed within a point of each other until Nicoll and Lewis strung back-to-back kills together to push the Vikings ahead at 21-19. Butler answered with a kill, but the Vikings responded with a kill from Lewis and then a solo block by Nicoll. A Butler attack error made it 24-20, and White finished it for the Vikings two points later with an emphatic kill off the Butler block.
 
White was a fitting finisher for the Vikings, as she recorded her nine kills on .333 hitting while setting a career high with her nine blocks.
 
Sunday's victory gives the Vikings momentum heading into a big week of volleyball within the state of Oregon. The Vikings will host the Oregon Ducks Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Viking Pavilion. They'll then travel down to Corvallis to face the Oregon State Beavers at 6 p.m. Friday.
 
The Vikings shouldn't need a team meeting ahead of those matches. They already got themselves right Saturday night and got their reward Sunday.
 
"I couldn't be prouder of how we came together. This is only the beginning," Seemann said.
 
Match Notes: Sunday's match was the first-ever meeting between the Vikings and Bulldogs…The Vikings' 14.0 blocks Sunday were more than they had in all but one match last season (15 blocks vs. Montana on Oct. 21)…The Vikings added seven aces to their strong showing Sunday.
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