PORTLAND, Ore. — For one night at least, Viking Pavilion served as the mecca of volleyball within the state of Oregon.
 
A record 1,340 fans attended Wednesday night's match between Portland State and No. 12-ranked Oregon. And while the Ducks (7-1) came away with the 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-19) victory, the Vikings (1-9) can be proud of the effort they showed in what served as an introduction to several potential new Viking fans.
 
The Vikings competed in every set against the nationally ranked Ducks, including putting a scare into Oregon in the second set when the Vikings cut what was a six-point lead late in the set down to one.
 
"We wanted to leave here proud of what we did and play with our hearts out. I think we did exactly that," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said after the match.
 
"I think every set just had two or three inopportune points, or momentum killers. It may have just been a slight lack of focus. I think we often times pinned them in good situations, and we didn't convert in those situations. A couple times each set, we had them where we wanted them, and we didn't convert those situations. Against a good team like that, that's probably going to hurt you a little bit."
 
Seemann pointed to his team's serving as a point of pride for the Vikings Wednesday. The Vikings out-aced the Ducks 6-to-2, and the serves that didn't go down for aces still got the Ducks out of system so that the Vikings could extend rallies.
 
Sophomore libero Paige Stepaniuk helped establish the Vikings' strength from the service line early Wednesday. She posted back-to-back aces within the first five points of the match.
 
The Ducks, meanwhile, struggled at times from the service line. In the first set alone, they committed seven service errors, which helped the Vikings stay in it even as the Ducks outhit the Vikings .375-to-.061 in the frame.
 
The Ducks found their stroke over the second and third sets, when they didn't give as many free points to the Vikings. However, the Vikings responded with stout defensive play, particularly from their back row passers.
 
Down 19-12 in the second set, the Vikings seemed to flip a switch defensively, getting to balls they didn't earlier and extending rallies that had been first-swing kills for the Ducks in the first set. That was reflected in the stats. While the Ducks hit .375 or better with 14 or more kills in the first two sets, the Vikings held them to just nine kills on .129 hitting in the third set.
 
"We went into this match knowing we had to dig. We knew we weren't going to win the net game very often. So, we did a great job of that," Seemann said of his back row players.
 
"There were moments where we robbed them, where they should have had a kill, but we did a good job with our defensive effort. It's something we knew we had to do, and I thought we did a great job of that."
 
That switch helped the Vikings crawl back in the second set. It was still a six-point lead for the Ducks at 22-16 when the Vikings rattled off five points in a row to get back within one. Carisa Barron started the run with a kill, while Naomi White and Makayla Lewis followed with kills of their own. The Viking defense forced an Oregon attack error on the next point, then stuffed the Ducks at the net as White and Delaney Nicoll combined for a block that made it 22-21.
 
The Ducks claimed three of the next four points to close out the set, but the Vikings carried momentum into the third.
 
Back-to-back blocks between Reese Biesemeyer and Ella Hartford pushed the Vikings ahead early, 6-5. The Ducks leveled the match at 6-all, but the Vikings claimed the next three points behind a kill from Barron, an Oregon attack error, and the first career ace from freshman Cali-Jo Shigemasa.
 
The Ducks responded immediately, leveling the match at 9-all, and eventually pushed ahead 15-12. The Vikings stayed in touch with the Ducks the rest of the way but couldn't close the gap.
 
The Ducks did a good job taking away the middle attacks that had been a staple of the Vikings' offense early in the season. White was held to three kills, while Biesemeyer didn't record a kill on nine attempts.
 
The pin hitters stepped up to fill that gap for the Vikings.  Lewis led all players in Wednesday's match with 12 kills on .152 hitting to go with eight digs. Barron was right behind her with 11 kills and eight digs. Nicoll, meanwhile, led all players with 12 digs to go with seven kills, two blocks and an ace.
 
"I thought they did a pretty good job getting us out of binds and some tough spots," Seemann said of his pin hitters.
 
Seemann and the Vikings won't be happy with the loss, ultimately. But they will be happy having made some new fans Wednesday.
 
The in-state battle brought in lots of new faces to Viking Pavilion certainly. And the Vikings can be proud of their effort in front of those new faces Wednesday.
 
"It's fantastic," Seemann said of the record-breaking crowd. "It's a group effort. My hat off to everyone who helped make this happen and just blowing out our previous record. It's a good sign of things to come. It's a volleyball gym and I felt like we were heavily supported tonight. It felt really good."
 
Match Notes: The Vikings still lead the all-time series between them and the Ducks, 27-24, despite Wednesday's loss…Lewis' 12 kills Wednesday leaves her just 13 from entering the Division I career top 10 at Portland State…The announced attendance of 1,340 fans was more than 500 more than the previous Viking Pavilion record for a volleyball match, which had been 813 from last season's Senior Day match against Sacramento State on Nov. 10, 2023…Wednesday's match was presented by OnPoint Community Credit Union.
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