PORTLAND, Ore. — First matches say everything about you and nothing at all. Your strengths aren't yet at full strength, and your weaknesses are amplified. The Portland State volleyball team was a bundle of those contradictions Friday while opening its 2026 season with a 3-2 loss (25-23, 17-25, 25-27, 25-17, 15-8) to cross-town rival University of Portland at the Chiles Center.
The Vikings (0-1) were at times brilliant – winning 10 of the final 12 points in the third set to turn a 23-17 deficit into a 27-25 set win – and other times frustrating – the Pilots (1-0) hit better than .400 in all three sets they won.
"We made defensive adjustments, but not all the time and not soon enough. And that's something that we can get better at tomorrow, just being able to listen and execute the game plan," Portland State head coach
Michael Seemann said afterwards.
"It's just two or three points here and there. And the fourth set was disappointing. We know we offered them seven or eight unforced errors and dug ourselves in a hole. But we've got a lot of work to do."
The positives for the Vikings came in the opening three sets. All nine of the Vikings' aces came in those first three sets, and mostly all at key times.
Magdalena Ranitovic had two aces as part of a 7-0 run that gave the Vikings control late in the second set.
Ava Blascziek's tough serving late in the third set than sparked the Vikings' comeback in the frame. Behind her, the Vikings went on another 7-0 run – the last two points on back-to-back kills from
Willow Watson – to turn a 23-17 deficit into a 24-23 lead. UP saved two set points, but the Vikings converted on their third with an ace – what else? – from
Paige Stepaniuk.
But the aces dried up from there, and the change was apparent. UP hit .448 in the fourth set, then .400 in the fifth to close out the win over the Vikings.
"It's there," Seemann said of the team's potential from the service line. "But only three of our six rotations were tough servers tonight and the others were not enough. And so I think we have to find them. Tougher serves within those people or different people."
Seemann rotated his lineup pretty consistently, something he promised to do in the preseason. With 18 players on the roster, the Vikings have a number of formations to choose from, and Seemann used Friday's season opener to try out a couple of different ones.
The Vikings had success in both their 5-1 and 6-2 formations. The 6-2 fueled a strong offensive set for the Vikings in the second set, as the Vikings outhit the Pilots .281-to-.192 in the frame.
Alivia Eikenberg led the Vikings with five kills in the second, but the Vikings also got three kills each from Ranitovic and
Brenna Coffman, the latter recording her three kills on three swings.
But the Vikings went to a 5-1 for their run late in the third set, and it paid off for them.
"We saw bright moments from the 6-2 and we saw bright moments from the 5-1. But neither were consistent enough tonight," Seemann said of the formations.
The clearest takeaway from Friday was that the Vikings' defense will have to improve, particularly at the net. Taina Kaauwai was especially effective for the Pilots out of the middle, recording 15 kills on .542 hitting while adding six blocks defensively. Kala Chock and Lillian Lansing added 17 and 15 kills of their own while hitting .224 and .438, respectively.
The Pilots outhit the Vikings .316 -to-.211. Opponent hitting percentage was a key bellwether for the Vikings last season. They were 6-1 within Big Sky play when holding their opponent below .200 hitting and 1-8 when their opponent hit above .200.
Offensively, Eikenberg led the Vikings with 15 kills on .125 hitting to go with 15 digs, four blocks and two aces. The double-double means Eikenberg picked up where she left off as a freshman, when she led the Vikings with 15 double-doubles.
Blascziek also recorded a double-double with 28 assists and a career-high 19 digs. She nearly became the first Viking setter to record a 20-20 match since Garyn Schlatter in 2012.
Watson finished with 14 kills on .444 hitting. Ranitovic, meanwhile, added 11 kills and nine digs to go with her two aces in the second set.
Reese Biesemeyer totaled eight kills on .412 hitting to go with two aces.
Stepaniuk had two aces of her own while recording the second double-double of her career with 14 digs and 10 assists.
Sunday's home opener against Nevada offers the Vikings another chance as they host the Wolf Pack at 1 p.m. at Viking Pavilion. The Wolf Pack open their season Saturday, when they play the same Pilot team that beat the Vikings Friday. But don't expect there to be any clarity from that match. It's too early in the season for that.
MATCH NOTES:
- The Vikings still lead the all-time series between them and the Pilots, 36-22, despite Friday's loss. The teams were playing for the first time since 2022.
- The Vikings lost after dropping the first set. That followed a trend from last season when the Vikings were 8-1 when winning the first set versus 3-16 when losing the opener.
- Stepaniuk needs only eight digs in the Vikings' match Sunday to pass Nicole Bateham for sixth all-time in Division I program history.
