PORTLAND, Ore. — With eight days left before his team's 2025 season opener, Portland State head volleyball coach Michael Seemann sounds like Chinese military strategist, philosopher and writer Sun Tzu.
 
It was Sun Tzu, who famously said: "Opportunities multiply as they are seized."
 
Seemann, meanwhile, said while describing how his team has worked to incorporate its largest freshman class since 2019 amid a roster that features 11 underclassmen among its 16 players: "We've given up continuity for opportunity."
 
Not bad for a head coach entering his 19th year.
 
Opportunity serves as a fitting theme for what will be a young Viking team in 2025. Among the team's seven returners, only four will be upperclassmen this season. Additionally, out of the team's three returning starters, only one (libero Paige Stepaniuk) has started more than one year.
 
But with youth comes potential. And for Seemann, that's fueled an excitement that's influenced his preseason musings on opportunity.
 
"I keep joking about it that it's like almost coaching a club team. We're young, yes, inexperienced, yes, but so talented. I can't wait to mold them."
 
Because of the team's youth, Seemann and his fellow coaches have exercised restraint at times during fall camp. When he would have previously shifted towards building cohesion at this point of fall camp, Seemann has instead given more time for different combinations of players to have time together.
 
That bore out during the team's Monday exhibition against Corban in which all 16 players played in at least two sets. There were ups and downs within that match as a result, but the Vikings – particularly the team's young players – also showed flashes of what they can be.
 
"There's a lot of talent sitting in front of us. How that all comes together is still going to be a work in progress, probably for most of the year. But everybody individually showed signs of where their potential could be," Seemann said of the exhibition.
 
"I think that's the biggest takeaway [from the exhibition], we have a clear vision of what we can be."
 
Refining that vision will now become the focus over the rest of fall camp leading up to the team's season opener on Aug. 29.
 
A key piece of the team's identity for the upcoming season will lie in what should be a deep and versatile group of middle blockers and right-side hitters. Naomi White and Reese Biesemeyer led a middle-blocker group last season that combined for the Vikings' most kills out of the middle since 2017. White and Biesemeyer finished last season ranked fifth and seventh in the Big Sky in hitting percentage, hitting .330 and .326, respectively. White also ranked ninth in the conference with 1.04 blocks per set.
 
White and Biesemeyer should have more help this season, as the Vikings added three freshmen middle blockers in Katie Brewer, Brenna Coffman and Willow Watson. All five could see time in the middle or on the right side, according to Seemann, which should bolster the Vikings' presence at the net.
 
"The goal for us would be to be able to adjust based on our opponents' strengths and be able to put those people in the right spots where we feel like their greatest assets would come out and help us win," Seemann said of his plans to shift around the middle and right-side hitters.
 
Amber Walker, a traditional right-side hitter, also figures to be in the mix on the right, as will setters Allison Panter and Elisabeth Levick.
 
The increased physicality should help bolster the Vikings defensively, which was an Achilles heel at times last season. The Vikings ranked ninth in the Big Sky with an opponent hitting percentage of .233 last season. The Vikings went 7-2 when holding opponents below .200 hitting in 2024, but just 1-18 when they didn't.
 
Seemann sees those numbers improving this year, both because of the team's strength in the middle and on the right side, but also from improved passing in the back row.
 
Stepaniuk returns as a two-year starter at libero. She had standout matches last season – none more so than the Vikings' match against Eastern Washington on Halloween last season when she recorded a career-high 30 digs while holding the Eagles to an opponent season-low .137 hitting – and Seemann says she's shown improvement now as a junior.
 
"There's another level of assertiveness from her. She's always been a very solid and consistent player, but she's improved her leadership and vocal energy," Seemann said of Stepaniuk.
 
Sophomore defensive specialist Cali-Jo Shigemasa also figures to bolster the team's defense, either in the back row or with her serving. Additionally, freshman Jessica Truong has impressed Seemann during fall camp, both with her play and energy on the court.
 
"She comes on the court, and you can hear her play. It doesn't matter which side she's on. She's going to give everything and she's going to be vocal," Seemann said of Truong.
 
Alongside those three, freshman outside hitter Alivia Eikenberg should contribute significantly to the team's passing in the back row. A six-rotation outside hitter, Eikenberg posted a double-double with 10 kills (on .250 hitting) and 16 digs despite playing in only the first three sets in Monday's exhibition. Eikenberg's best two sets aligned with the Vikings' best two frames as she totaled nine kills without committing an error and hitting .391 over the second and third sets combined.
 
"Liv is a very good ball handler and she's extremely terminal in her attacks," Seemann said of Eikenberg. "She's got a very quick arm. She's very fast as well. So, she's somebody who has certainly established herself and someone we're going to have to rely on a little bit."
 
Seemann also noted the improvements returners Tyra Schaub and Sydney Stenson have made in their backrow passing as outside hitters.
 
Strong serving always helps a team's defense, and the Vikings figure to have that ability this fall. Panter returns after ranking sixth in the Big Sky with 0.36 aces per set last season. As a team, the Vikings had eight aces in their exhibition against Corban Monday, with Stepaniuk leading the way with four.
 
The strong serving comes with a mindset change for Seemann in the area.
 
"I've always been a big believer to strike the ball the same in all conditions whether it's out of a timeout or the first serve or close late in a set or not. But I think giving our defense more opportunities to play is a little bit more of our emphasis up front," Seemann said. "Not to say we're serving easy, but I would like to see more serves in. I think if we can rely more on our defense and give them an opportunity to score points, then we give ourselves a better chance of winning more often."
 
So, defense will lead the way for the Vikings, especially early in the season while the offense takes time to develop. That's the nature of having so many new pieces playing together. There's not the years-long relationship between setter and hitter.
 
Even still, Seemann sees potential in what the offense can become behind players like Eikenberg, Stenson, Schaub, freshman Ashley Repetti, as well as the team's middle and right-side hitters.
 
Setter Ava Blascziek has brought a fire to the offense as a junior transfer from Temple University. Seemann noted Blascziek's competitiveness when she joined the Vikings ahead of winter term during the 2024-25 school year.
 
"She's very competitive and she's vocalized that since day one," Seemann said of Blascziek. "I think that has influenced our chemistry a lot. I think we've always been a quieter group, and she's changed that a little bit. I think that surprised some of the team initially, but everybody is on board with her now and you want her on your team."
 
The culture will likely be the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place for the Vikings. That's another symptom of trying out all different combinations together, the on-court chemistry hasn't been fully worked out yet.
 
But Seemann entrusts that that will come. The Vikings' preseason schedule is unique this year in that they open with three straight road tournaments where they would usually have one weekend at home. And while the Vikings look forward to hosting a tournament again next season, Seemann sees the road-heavy schedule as a potential incubator for his young team to grow together.
 
"There's something about the road where there's not as much pressure, I think. We're just the visitors. There's not that pressure hanging over us, 'this is our home court. We have to protect it,'" Seemann said.
 
"It's a road warrior mentality where you don't have that additional pressure of performing in front of loved ones and your peers."
 
The road-heavy start to the season is another opportunity to be seized then. And Seemann and his buddy Sun Tzu know the importance of seizing opportunities.