Portland State University Athletics

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The temperature outside Shroyer Gymnasium Thursday hovered just over 40 degrees around the time the Portland State volleyball team started its match against Montana State. But if any of the Vikings had checked their phones at the time, the feels-like temperature would have been a balmy 80 degrees.
 
Such is the heater the Vikings find themselves on as they extended their win streak to six straight matches with a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-21, 25-22) of Montana State.
 
Less than four weeks ago on Oct. 10, it was the Bobcats (15-9, 8-5) who swept the Vikings (12-12, 8-5) at Viking Pavilion. They dominated that match, outhitting the Vikings .284-to-.149 while three different Bobcats went into double figures for kills. But Thursday, it was almost the exact opposite. The Vikings outhit the Bobcats .305-to-.165 with Alivia Eikenberg and Ashley Repetti leading the way with 13 and 10 kills, respectively.
 
How to explain the difference? Perhaps a young Portland State volleyball team that features 12 underclassmen on its 18-player roster is just growing up.
 
"We were determined to win the moment and not get overly concerned with errors. We did that tonight," Portland State head coach Michael Seemann said afterwards.
 
The Vikings were locked in from the first serve Thursday. Back-to-back kills from Eikenberg opened the match for the Vikings while libero Paige Stepaniuk put down an ace to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead that they wouldn't ever relinquish.
 
One thing that the Vikings established early Thursday that they didn't in their first match against the Bobcats was a presence at the net. Reese Biesemeyer and Willow Watson combined for four blocks in the opening set. They'd finish the match with nine blocks as a team, setting a new three-set season high in the process.
 
Biesemeyer and Watson finished with five blocks. Eikenberg, meanwhile, put in a strong effort on the left side of the net, finishing with three solo blocks in the match.
 
"We influenced their attackers and forced them to rethink their options," Seemann said.
 
The Vikings played from behind through the early part of the next two sets, and yet still won both. They closed the second set on a 6-1 run that featured two of Eikenberg's three solo blocks. The second of the two got the Vikings to set point, which Eikenberg would finish off herself with a kill two points later.
 
The Vikings also trailed 15-12 midway through the third set before asserting themselves once again. The Vikings scored eight of the next 10 points to push in front at 20-17. They traded points with the Bobcats the rest of the way, eventually ending it on a block between Brenna Coffman and Ava Blascziek.
 
Blascziek – the reigning Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week – led a PSU offense that hit over .300 for the second straight match. Considering the Vikings hit below .200 in 17 of their first 22 matches of the season, that's no small feat.
 
"Ava is delivering opportunities and our attackers are finishing points," Seemann said of the change of fortune for the Portland State offense. "Our outsides did some special things tonight, not only in kill production but keeping MSU uncomfortable."
 
Eikenberg's 13 kills came on .290 hitting, while Repetti's 10 kills came on .269. Eikenberg added nine digs, three blocks and two aces to her 13 kills in what was an all-around match for the sophomore.
 
Outside of those two, Willow Watson had seven kills on .294 hitting to go with her five blocks. Biesemeyer and Coffman added five kills each from their middle blocker positions while both hit above .300. Blascziek had three kills on .500 hitting herself while also finishing with 33 assists and seven digs.
 
Defensively, Stepaniuk led the Vikings with 12 digs.
 
Thursday's win over the Bobcats moved the Vikings into a tie for fourth in the Big Sky standings at 8-5. When they first played the Bobcats, the loss dropped them to 2-4 in conference, and a loss to Idaho the following Thursday put them at 2-5.
 
They haven't lost since.
 
It's why Bozeman felt balmy for the Vikings Thursday.
 
MATCH NOTES:

• The Vikings have won three straight road matches against the Bobcats with Thursday's win. The Vikings now lead the all-time series 52-28-1, while they increased their lead in the Big Sky series, 31-26.
• Utah Tech lost its first Big Sky Conference match, 3-1, to Idaho State Thursday. That means the Vikings' six-match winning streak is now the longest active streak within the conference.
• Blascziek now has 1,940 assists over her entire collegiate career, leaving her 60 short of the 2k mark.

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