Portland State University Athletics

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said it in the locker room after Thursday's match. His team learned how to win, beating Montana 3-1 (26-24, 25-18, 24-26, 25-21) at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings (6-10, 2-3) showed a new winning mentality in their play late in sets. Down 24-21 in the first set, the Vikings won five straight points – saving three set points in the process – to steal the early lead from the Grizzlies (5-11, 1-4). They showed similar mettle late in the third set, saving six set points to tie at 24-all.
 
The Grizzlies recovered to win the third, but the Vikings stepped up again late in the fourth set. Tied at 21-all in the fourth and looking a little shaky after an out-of-rotation call, the Vikings found another gear, closing out the Grizzlies with four straight points from four different players.
 
"We learned how to win, and that was it," Seemann said. "That sustained level of focus that we showed late in sets has to become our operating procedure. That takes a level of maturity and we're slowly figuring that out."
 
Thursday's match was there for the taking for either team. The Vikings and Grizzlies came in with remarkable similarities, even down to identical records through their first 15 matches of the season. Both offenses had struggled at times, too, so there was a question of which team would assert itself there.
 
The Vikings answered that with their run to finish the first set. They went on to out-kill the Grizzlies 61-to-42 while outhitting them .194-to-.090.
 
It was the balance, more than the numbers, that pleased Seemann. The Vikings had four players record 10+ kills in the same match for the first time this season. Freshman Maryn Hall led that group with a career-high 16 kills on .220 hitting. Alivia Eikenberg added 14 kills for her most since the opening weekend of the season. Right-side hitter Willow Watson chipped in 12 kills on .370 hitting while middle blocker Brenna Coffman recorded 10 kills on .318 hitting.
 
"I think our shot selection improved. That was huge. And with that better shot selection, we were able to set up defensive points," Seemann said of the improved offensive showing.
 
Hall closed the Vikings' 5-0 run to win the first set with a kill, one of five she had in the opening set. Eikenberg kicked off the run with a kill then followed with an ace, saving the first two of three set points. Hall and Reese Biesemeyer then saved the third point on a block that followed a big dig from Jessica Truong earlier in the point.
 
The Vikings extended their run to 10 straight points with a 5-0 start to the second set. The Vikings never led the Grizzlies closer than three points over the rest of the set, staying on the front foot the whole way.
 
The Viking defense held the Grizzlies down throughout the first two sets. The Grizzlies were hitting just .028 through two sets, including a negative hitting percentage in the second frame.  Seemann praised the "littles", meaning his defensive specialists. Truong finished with 12 digs in the match while Paige Stepaniuk, who took over at libero after the opening set, recorded 17 digs for her most since the opening weekend of the season.
 
The Viking defense also produced a season-high 14.0 blocks at the net. Biesemeyer led the Vikings with eight blocks – her third match out of the last four in which she's recorded at least eight blocks. Coffman added a season-high six blocks to her 10 kills, while Watson and Hall finished with five and four blocks, respectively. Hall's four blocks were also a career high, giving her a career high in kills (16), blocks (4) and points (19.0) in the match.
 
Even still, the Montana offense recovered just enough to win the third set and give the Vikings some trouble in the fourth.
 
But outside of the very beginning of the frame, the Vikings never relinquished the lead in the fourth set as they closed out the Grizzlies. Watson finished with five kills on only seven swings in the close-out set for the Vikings. Hall also put the finishing touches of her career match with three kills on .500 hitting.
 
"That was a breakout match for Maryn," Seemann said of Hall. "I'm so proud of her and her kind of playing her first full-time start. She did a great job."
 
The Grizzlies' late comeback in the fourth set would have made a lesser team second-guess itself, especially as the Vikings were on the wrong end of a reverse sweep in their last match at Idaho State.
 
The Vikings didn't make the plays to win against Idaho State. But they did Thursday against the Grizzlies.
 
MATCH NOTES:

• The Vikings improved to 59-22 all-time against the Grizzlies with Thursday's win.
• Montana and Portland State came into the match as the top two teams in terms of aces per set. But they finished with just seven aces combined with four for PSU and three for Montana. Setters Gracie Cagle (Montana) and Ava Blascziek (Portland State) were 1-2 in the conference individually, but they finished with only one ace each.
• Biesemeyer is averaging 1.71 blocks per set over the Vikings' last four matches.
• Blascziek recorded the 20th double-double of her career with 42 assists and 10 digs.  

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