BOZEMAN, Mont. — Playing on the road in a packed Shroyer Gym Saturday night, the young Portland State volleyball team appeared not fazed at all. The Vikings rolled to a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 26-24) sweep of Montana State, the program's first road sweep of the Bobcats since 2017.
 
The Vikings (6-7, 2-0) outhit the Bobcats (6-7, 1-1) – who were playing in front of 1,137 of their own fans – .238-to-.128 Saturday. The Vikings have now hit .200 or better in five of their last six matches, including both Big Sky matches so far this season. Meanwhile, the Bobcats' .128 hitting percentage marked a new season low for a PSU opponent, only two days after the Vikings held Idaho State to .145 hitting, the previous low by a PSU opponent.
 
What's more, the Bobcats came into the match hot, having won two in a row, including a five-set road win over Eastern Washington in their conference opener Wednesday.
 
"We knew they were going to receive a lot of support, and in that small gym, it can have a strong impact," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said of how his team handled the environment. "My charge to the team was to make it about ourselves, to be our greatest supporters and to celebrate success on our side."
 
That charge from Seemann played a critical role late in the second and third sets. The Vikings led by as many as six in both sets, only to see the Bobcats come back and tie both late.
 
In the second set, the Vikings led 16-10 before the Bobcats chipped away and eventually tied it at 22-all. Tyra Schaub broke the tie with a kill out of a PSU timeout, while Alivia Eikenberg followed with one of her own. A Montana State error then completed a 3-0 PSU run to close out the set.
 
In the third set, the Vikings led 19-13 before the Bobcats won seven of the next nine points to get back within one. The Vikings went back up 24-22 on the 10th kill of the night from Schaub, but the Bobcats erased both match points with kills of their own.
 
Again, the Vikings steadied themselves with a timeout. Naomi White then stepped up for the Vikings out of the break, as she closed out the match with back-to-back solo blocks.
 
"We got a little tight and tentative at the end of sets two and three," Seemann said. "Our takeaway from this is that we can be as aggressive as we were when we started the match and execute in those moments."
 
White was part of five of the Vikings' 9.0 blocks in the match while also recording four kills on .500 hitting. Sydney Stenson and Reese Biesemeyer had three blocks each.
 
The play at the net was part of a dominant night for the Viking defense overall. Libero Paige Stepaniuk led the Vikings' back row with 12 digs in the match. Schaub and setter Ava Blasziek followed her with eight digs each, while Eikenberg added six.
 
Offensively, Eikenberg was the picture of consistency, recording five kills in each set while finishing with a match-high 15. Schaub added 10 kills on .444 hitting, while Biesemeyer chipped in five kills on .500 hitting from the middle.
 
Eikenberg and Schaub also both had 10+ kills in Thursday's conference-opening win over Idaho State. They've now both gone into double figures four times this season and the Vikings are, unsurprisingly, 4-0 in those four matches.
 
"Our left sides got us out of some binds tonight, taking some huge swings on some out-of-system balls," Seemann said of Eikenberg and Schaub. "They continue to expand their toolbox and grow in confidence."
 
Setters Blascziek and Allison Panter led the Viking offense to its fourth-best hitting percentage of the season (.238). Panter recorded 20 assists on her 35 sets for a conversion rate of 57.1 percent. Blascziek, meanwhile, added 16 assists to her eight digs.
 
The Vikings return home to Viking Pavilion for their next match, a meeting against rival Sacramento State at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3. A win there would give the Vikings their first 3-0 start to Big Sky play since 2017.
 
Tell that to this Viking team, though, and they'd be unfazed.
 
Match Notes:

• The Vikings improved to 50-27-1 all-time against the Bobcats with Saturday's win.
• The Vikings' 26-24 win in the third set meant they are now 10-6 in two-point sets this season and 4-2 in sets that go into extra points.
• The Vikings are 2-0 in Big Sky play for the fourth straight season.
• With her 12 digs, Stepaniuk moved into sole possession of No. 10 all-time in career digs during the program's Big Sky era (1996-present).

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