GREELEY, Colo. — The Portland State volleyball team took a set off Northern Colorado at Bank of Colorado Arena for the first time since 2018. But that wasn't enough in a 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 25-14) loss to the Bears Saturday.
 
The Vikings (6-10, 2-3) recorded 12 aces against the Bears (7-11, 4-2) – six of which came in the third set – their most in a Big Sky road match since they had 14 against Weber State on Oct. 12, 2012.
 
But the Bears had the better offense throughout Saturday's match. They out-killed the Vikings 56-to-37 while out-hitting them .272-to-.111.
 
"We are a very good team…at times. We string together moments and usually put ourselves in a position to win. But we have to become more consistent. When we do, we will be a very good team," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said afterwards.
 
The Bears' offense helped them separate themselves over the second halves of the first and second sets. It was 15-14 UNC in the opening frame when the Bears rattled off an 8-1 run to take a commanding lead. It was 15-14 again in the second set, when the Bears won the next six points and then closed it out from there.
 
The Vikings only had seven kills in the opening set. They were better at the start of the second set, recording nine kills on their first 13 points in the frame, but then only had two more kills the rest of the way.
 
Serving flipped things in the Vikings' favor in the third set. The Vikings recorded three aces in their first seven points of the set while taking an early 7-3 lead. They added three more later in the set, including two back-to-back from Paige Stepaniuk to go up 22-14.
 
The tough serving helped the Viking offense find better balance in the third set. Right-side hitters Sydney Stenson and Amber Walker both had their best sets of the match in the third. Stenson recorded four kills on six swings, while Walker had three kills on four swings. Neither committed an error in the frame.
 
But the Bears clamped down in the fourth set, holding the Vikings to seven kills on negative-.081 hitting in the frame to close out the match.
 
Alivia Eikenberg led the Vikings with 11 kills on .070 hitting in the match. She also had 11 digs to record her ninth double-double of the season already. She needs only four more to match Garyn Schlatter's freshman record of 13 in 2010.
 
Stenson and Walker finished with seven kills against the Bears, while no other Viking had more than four kills.
 
Setter Ava Blascziek recorded her second straight double-double with 19 assists and 13 digs. Additionally, Blascziek was one of four different Vikings who recorded three aces in the match. Besides Blascziek, Stepaniuk, Reese Biesemeyer and Tyra Schaub all had three aces in the match.
 
The Vikings will now return home for four straight matches. They'll open that home stand against the Montana schools next week, hosting Montana State Thursday and Montana Saturday. Both matches will start at 7 p.m.
 
Match Notes:

• The Vikings fell to 22-26 all-time against the Bears with Saturday's loss. They've lost their last eight road matches against the Bears.
• Eikenberg has recorded 10+ kills in all five Big Sky Conference matches the Vikings have played so far this season.
• The Vikings were out-blocked 7.0-to-4.0 Saturday. They're averaging 1.33 blocks per set within Big Sky play after averaging 2.31 blocks per set during non-conference play.

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