SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The Portland State volleyball team picked itself off the mat multiple times Friday against host San Francisco at the Battle By The Bay tournament. The Vikings came back to level the match twice after dropping the first and third sets, but the Dons answered on their side of the net, beating the Vikings in a tightly contested five-set match, 3-2 (31-29, 30-32, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12), at the War Memorial at The Sobrato Center.
 
The first two sets both went past 30 points, the first time the Vikings (1-4) have played a match like that during the current 25-point scoring format (2008-present). The teams split the two sets, with the Dons (1-2) taking the first one, 31-29, and the Vikings claiming the second, 32-30.
 
USF saved four set points in winning the first set over the Vikings. The second set appeared to be a carbon copy until the Vikings won a long rally at 30-all, then finally converted on their seventh set point to level the match.
 
"We did not execute cohesively when the score got into the 20s. Individuals got us out of binds, but collectively we needed to be better," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said of the tight sets.
 
"I am proud of the way we fought in every set. This opponent taught us a lot. Most importantly, this was our first true away match that had a crowd that could have influenced how we played. But they didn't. This is a step forward for us. We will learn and grow from this."
 
The first two sets could not have been tighter. Neither team led by more than two points throughout the first set that featured 18 ties and six lead changes. The largest lead in the second set was only three points, and it topped the first with 21 ties and eight lead changes.
 
The Dons earned a lot of short points late in sets Friday that ultimately proved to be the difference. Their offense outhit the Vikings .251-to-.180, while they out-blocked the Vikings 14.0-to-11.0. Hannah Taylor (23) and Astrid Puig (22) both recorded 20+ kills for the Dons, while hitting .353 and .211, respectively.
 
The Vikings still had their chances. The staked out a 23-21 lead in the first set behind a balanced offense that saw seven different players record a kill in the opening frame. The back-and-forth nature of the set meant the Vikings ran out of subs, however. That left one of the Vikings' most effective pieces – freshman Willow Watson, who had four kills on .500 hitting at that point of the set – on the bench. Even still, the Vikings had set points at 26-25, 27-26, 28-27 and 29-28, any of which could have put the Vikings up 1-0 in the match.
 
The Vikings got the job done in the second set, coming back from a late 20-17 deficit and fighting off a set point at 24-23. Watson erased the set point with a kill, while Sydney Stenson followed with an ace to put the Vikings in front, 25-24. Again, the Dons made them earn it. In addition to 25-24, the Vikings held set points at 26-25, 27-26, 28-27, 29-28 and 30-29 all get erased. Alivia Eikenberg finally ended it at 32-30 with a kill.
 
The ending kill from Eikenberg was one of six she had in the second set. The freshman outside hitter ended the night with the first 20-kill match of her career, recording 22 kills on .231 hitting. The freshman also recorded her second straight double-double with 15 digs to go with her 22 kills.
 
The Dons ran away with the third set, 25-19, but the Vikings answered with a strong fourth set in which they outhit the Dons .256-to-.184. Naomi White hit 1.000 in the set, converting on all four of her attempts. That's the second time White has had a perfect set this weekend, after she also went 4-for-4 in the first set against Long Beach State Thursday. Stenson added four kills of her own on eight attempts in the set.
 
The Vikings took the opening point of the fifth set, but quickly fell behind the Dons, 8-3, and then were playing catch up from there.
 
The Vikings made a 3-0 run to get back within three at 13-10. Eikenberg then erased two match points a little later with a kill and an ace back-to-back, but the Dons converted on their third attempt to close out the match.
 
Besides Eikenberg, two other Vikings went into double figures for kills between Watson (12 kills on .417 hitting) and White (10 kills on .300 hitting). White added a match-high seven blocks to her 10 kills, while Watson tallied four blocks of her own.
 
Setter Ava Blascziek recorded the first double-double of her Portland State career with 23 assists and 10 digs. Fellow setter Allison Panter added 28 assists and six digs to go with three aces.
 
Libero Paige Stepaniuk nearly had the first double-double of her career with 25 digs and a career-high nine assists.
 
The Vikings face a tough turnaround now for their final match of the weekend, which will see them drive south to Santa Clara University for a neutral-site match against Cal Baptist at 11 a.m. The length of Friday's marathon with the Dons – 2 hours, 58 minutes – didn't help the short turnaround. But the Vikings will have to figure it out if they hope to post a 2-1 record over their weekend trip to the Bay Area.
 
"We have to dig in with a tight turnaround tomorrow. This will be a test of our ability to find energy, stay healthy and get another road win," Seemann said.
 
The Vikings just need to pick themselves up off the mat once again.
 
Match Notes:

• The Vikings fell to 3-5 all-time against San Francisco with Friday's loss.
• The first and second sets were the longest sets the Vikings had played since winning the fourth set of their match against Sacramento State, 32-30, on Nov. 10, 2023.
• Eikenberg's 22 kills were the second-most by a Viking freshman in a match since at least 2010. Gabby Hollins holds the freshman record with 23 kills against Idaho on Jan. 24, 2021.
• The Vikings recorded 10+ blocks for the third time in five matches this season, something they did in only four of 28 matches last season.

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