SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The Portland State volleyball team remains on the wrong side of fine margins this season. On Thursday, it was a pair of two-point sets, neither of which went the Vikings' way, in a 3-0 loss (28-26, 25-23, 25-19) to Tulane at the San Diego State Invitational.
 
The Vikings (0-4) are now 0-6 in sets decided by two points this season. That accounts for half of the 12 sets they've lost through their first four matches. Win half of those and things change for the Vikings in a hurry.
 
"While we continue to show signs of growth, we remain inconsistent throughout moments in sets," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said after Thursday's match at Aztec Court. "We have the skill and talent as individuals, but we are not yet a strong team. We will get there."
 
The Vikings were unlucky not to pull out the first set, having held three set points and leading from 4-3 all the way until the end of the set. A stellar offensive showing helped stake the Vikings out to an early lead. The Vikings led 10-5, at which point they were hitting .667 and had two aces already.
 
The fourth kill of the set for sixth-year senior Makayla Lewis made it 18-14 and came as she was hitting .800 through the early part of the match. It wasn't just Lewis going off, though. Six different Vikings recorded at least two kills in the opening set between Lewis, Delaney Nicoll, Carisa Barron, Naomi White, Reese Biesmeyer and Devon DeNecochea.
 
The offense kept the Vikings ahead until a late run from Tulane (2-2) flipped things. It was a 21-16 PSU lead when Tulane scored six of the next seven points to tie the set at 22-all. Carisa Barron put the Vikings back in front with her third kill of the set, while the Viking defense forced a Tulane attack error to go up 24-22.
 
Tulane erased those two set points with a kill and a block. The Vikings earned another with a block between Nicoll and Biesemeyer. Tulane wiped that away with a kill from Sami Jacobs, then earned their first set point with another from Sabrina Skyers. Nicoll leveled the set again with a kill to make it 26-all, but Tulane answered with a kill from Jacobs, then an ace to close out the set.
 
Neither team could shake the other in the second set. The first three-point lead for either team didn't come until Tulane went up 18-15. The Vikings erased that with a 4-1 run to tie it at 19-all, however. Tulane edged ahead with a kill and ace to lead 22-20, then added back-to-back kills from Jordan White to go up 24-21. Lewis and Nicoll erased the first two set points with back-to-back kills, but a service error from the Vikings ended the set at 25-23.
 
Tulane took control in the third set with an early 6-1 run to go up 13-7. They stretched that to a 22-13 lead a little later, and while the Vikings went on a 5-0 run from there – featuring two aces for Tyra Schaub in her first official action of the season – the Green Wave closed out the match with relative ease.
 
Statistically, the Vikings fell off their early pace offensively. After hitting .244 and .298 in the first two sets, respectively, they fell to .081 in the third set. That meant Tulane outhit the Vikings .284-to-.217 for the match.
 
Additionally, while the Vikings out-aced the Green Wave 6-to-5, they also committed 11 service errors to only four for Tulane.
 
Tulane out-blocked the Vikings, 10.0-to-4.0. That had been an area of growth for the Vikings in their last two matches. After San Francisco out-blocked the Vikings 11.0-to-2.0 in their opening match of the season, the Vikings out-blocked both Cal (9.0-to-7.0) and Nevada (13.0-to-11.0) in their next two matches. The Vikings were playing without redshirt senior middle blocker Taylor Hunter, though, who suffered an injury during the fourth set of the team's match against Nevada.
 
The Vikings got freshman setter Allison Panter back from injury Thursday, and the freshman played well, alternating with senior Ella Hartford in the Vikings' 6-2 formation through the first two sets of the match. Panter recorded 15 assists in those two sets while she and Hartford led the Vikings to 16 kills in the opening set and 17 in the second.
 
Lewis finished with a team-high 12 kills, while Nicoll and White followed with nine and eight, respectively. Lewis' 12 kills came along with a team-high 12 digs as she recorded the 28th double-double of her Portland State career. Hartford also had a double-double, adding 10 digs to her 21 assists in the match.
 
The Vikings get another chance Friday, when they play host San Diego State at 6 p.m.
 
Match Notes: Thursday's match was the first-ever meeting between Portland State and Tulane…Lewis' 28th double-double at Portland State moves her into a tie for eighth all-time alongside former teammates Ally Wada and Parker Webb…White's eight kills came on .538 hitting, the second straight match in which she's hit over .500.
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