PORTLAND, Ore. — The lightbulb is going on for a young, talented Portland State volleyball team. The Vikings won their third match in a row – and second straight five-setter – Saturday, coming back from a set down twice to beat Northern Colorado, 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12), at Viking Pavilion.
"With 12 underclassmen, the first thing that changes is belief. They believe that they can do it now," Portland State head coach
Michael Seemann said of his young team.
"We're doing hard things and we're coming out on top, and I think acknowledging that to the team is really important. And to also acknowledge that everything we from this point is going to be hard. They're embracing that."
The win follows a five-set win for the Vikings (9-12, 5-5) Tuesday at Northern Arizona. The lightbulb went on for freshman
Maryn Hall in that match, as she produced the first 20-20 match by a PSU freshman since 2018 with 26 kills and 21 digs.
Saturday, the Vikings lost Hall to injury not even halfway through the first set. The offense sputtered in her absence as the Bears (10-11, 6-4) outhit the Vikings .240-to-.127. But the Vikings countered with a strong serve-and-pass game as they out-aced the Bears 14-to-3, setting a new season high for aces. UNC also gifted the Vikings 23 points off service errors.
The serve-and-pass game was never more prominent than in the fifth set. Three of the Vikings' first five points in the set came off of UNC service errors, as the Vikings took the early 5-2 lead.
Magdalena Ranitovic had her lightbulb moment from there, recording five straight aces to give the Vikings a 10-2 lead. The Bears twice took timeouts during her run of aces, and Ranitovic responded with aces out of both timeouts.
The Bears still made it interesting after Ranitovic's run from the service line. They won eight of 10 points a little later in the fifth set to get back within two at 13-11. But a service error got the Vikings to match point while a second put them over the finish line at 15-12 in the fifth set.
Ten of the Vikings' 15 points in the fifth set came from the service line between Ranitovic's five aces and UNC's five service errors.
"That helped a very young team get through a fifth set at home," Seemann said of the team's serving advantage late. "We didn't change anything. That was just our servers getting hot. We missed plenty, so you take the good with the bad. Some of our misses came at bad times, but you could also say our aces came at good times, especially in the fifth set."
Ranitovic was forced into action when Hall went down in the first set. She had only played in 10 sets since the Vikings' first three matches of the season. But she could not have responded better, recording the first double-double of her career with 10 kills on .171 hitting to go with a team-high 14 digs. Her six aces also marked the most by a Viking in a match this season.
Ranitovic's hero turn off the bench came as the Vikings nearly played their full roster Saturday. Sixteen of the Vikings' 18 players appeared in at least one set, while 10 of those 16 players recorded at least one kill in the match.
Alivia Eikenberg led the Vikings with 14 kills while adding six digs and two aces.
Paige Stepaniuk tied Ranitovic for the team lead with 14 digs while adding three aces. Setter
Ava Blascziek nearly joined Ranitovic with a double-double of her own, recording 36 assists and nine digs.
Reese Biesemeyer led the Vikings at the net with five blocks to go with six kills on .312 hitting. Fellow middle blocker
Brenna Coffman recorded seven kills on .211 hitting.
"I said it before the match, 'everyone has to be ready to go,'" Seemann said. "We're adaptable. It's on the dry-erase board downstairs right now. And I think that's a plus for us. What we lose a little bit in continuity, we gain in adaptability."
It took a collective effort for the Vikings to buck several negative trends. Among them:
- The Vikings had lost 14 straight matches in which they dropped the opening set… before winning Saturday.
- The Vikings had lost 15 straight matches when their opponent hit above .200…before winning Saturday.
It takes time for a young team to build the confidence to ignore those stats. The Vikings – with 12 underclassmen on their 18-player roster – did that Saturday.
MATCH NOTES
- The Vikings have won two home matches in a row against Northern Colorado. The Bears still lead the all-time series between them and the Vikings, 26-24.
- The Vikings hit under .100 in three of the five sets, while Northern Colorado hit .200 or better in four of the five.
- Eikenberg had five kills on .364 hitting in the fourth set.
