FIRST SERVE
Big Sky Conference play represents a new season, and the Portland State volleyball team will open it against the conference's two newcomers. It's a fitting way to start, as the Vikings host Utah Tech and Southern Utah Thursday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m.), respectively, at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings head into Big Sky play knowing some of their strengths while still working out solutions to some weaknesses.
 
Serving has been a highlight for the Vikings through non-conference play. Ava Blascziek illustrated that with four straight aces near the start of the Vikings' match against Oregon State last Friday. Blascziek finished the match with five aces, tying a career high she set just four matches earlier against UTRGV.
 
The Vikings lead the Big Sky and rank 55th nationally with 1.83 aces per set as a team. Blascziek ranks second in the conference and 44th in the NCAA individually with 0.53 aces per set. That's above the current single-season record under the 25-point format (2008-present) that Sophia Meyers set at 0.47 in 2023.
 
The tough serving had helped the Vikings' defensive numbers. The Vikings held four straight opponents to under .200 hitting between Sept. 5-11. They held back-to-back opponents below .100 in Prairie View A&M (.070) and UTRGV (.059) on Sept. 10. They even held a high-powered Oregon offense below their season average in what was a competitive match last Thursday against the 23rd-ranked Ducks.
 
Oregon State ended the strong stretch for the Viking defense with a .435 hitting percentage – a season high for a Viking opponent – last Friday. But if the Vikings return to where they were the previous week at the Red Raider Classic, then that match will be an anomaly more than anything else.
 
The more pertinent thing for the Vikings to correct at the start of Big Sky play is their kill production. The Ducks and Beavers both held the Vikings below 10 kills per set last week. That's not entirely unexpected given the physicality of high-major programs like the Ducks and Beavers, but the Vikings will still hope for a better average come Thursday.
 
The Vikings had a strong stretch offensively in three straight wins over Murray State, Prairie View A&M and UTRGV. They averaged 13.4 kills per set over those three matches – peaking at 14.0 vs. Prairie View – while they hit .340 or better in two of the three.
 
The Vikings will need to produce offensively Thursday to keep pace with a high-powered Utah Tech offense. The Trailblazers lead the Big Sky in both kills (13.5) and assists (12.3) per set while also ranking third in the conference in hitting percentage (.235). Nana Asiata leads the team with 3.32 kills per set individually, ranking her fourth in the conference. Shaylee Dahle, meanwhile, leads the Big Sky with a .481 hitting percentage while averaging 1.79 kills per set.
 
The strong offense has led the Trailblazers to a 7-3 start to the season. That includes a 3-0 sweep of Oregon State on the opening day of the season. That followed a 3-1 revenge win for the Trailblazers over a Utah Valley team that beat them in the championship match of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament last season.
 
Southern Utah hasn't been as lucky the last two seasons. The Thunderbirds broke through for their first win of the season last Friday, beating Chicago State 3-0. But they head into Big Sky play 1-9 on the year after going 3-21 last season.
 
The Thunderbirds' biggest strength has been their serving. Despite their struggles, they rank fourth in the Big Sky with 1.50 aces per set. Talea Berry ranks fourth individually with 0.42.
 
The Vikings should be able to counter with their own strong serving in what will be a welcome back to a Southern Utah program that played in the Big Sky Conference from 2012-21. No players or SUU coaches remain from the program's last Big Sky team, of course, but the Thunderbirds will at least be more familiar with the conference than their travel partners in Utah Tech.
 
One thing that is brand new for all three teams competing this week at Viking Pavilion…conference play. The new season starts Thursday.
 
MATCH #12: PORTLAND STATE (4-7, 0-0) vs. UTAH TECH (7-3, 0-0)
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
DETAILS: Thursday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m. PT, Portland, Ore. (Viking Pavilion)
SCOUTING UTAH TECH:

• The Utah Tech Trailblazers posted one of the best non-conference records in the Big Sky, going 7-3. That includes a 3-0 sweep of Oregon State on Aug. 28. They'll enter Big Sky play having swept their last four opponents between San Jose State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Chicago State.
• The Trailblazers have already outperformed preseason expectations for their first year in the Big Sky Conference. League coaches picked the Trailblazers to finish seventh in the 11-team league, though one coach gave them a first-place vote.
• Utah Tech went 21-6 overall and 10-2 within the Western Athletic Conference last season. They tied Utah Valley for first in the WAC last season. But Utah Valley beat the Trailblazers in five sets in the championship match. Utah Tech returned four starters and nine letterwinners off that team.
• The Trailblazers feature a potent offense. They lead the Big Sky in both kills (13.5) and assists (12.3) per set while also ranking third in the conference in hitting percentage (.235).
• Nana Asiata leads the Trailblazers offense with 3.32 kills per set, ranking her fourth in the Big Sky. Shaylee Dahle leads the Big Sky with a .481 hitting percentage while averaging 1.79 kills per set. Tessa Treanor ranks second on the team with 2.74 kills per set. Treanor also ranks slightly ahead of Portland State's Ava Blascziek with 0.53 aces per set, giving her the conference lead and ranking her 40th nationally.
• Defensively, the Trailblazers rank third in the Big Sky with 15.0 digs per set. They rank fourth in opponent hitting percentage (.185) and seventh in blocks per set (2.25). Mya Laufiso leads the back row with 3.53 digs per set. Lusia Langi leads the Trailblazers at the net with 1.24 blocks per set, though she's only played in 21 of the team's 34 sets. Dahle has played in 33 of 34 sets and averages 0.94 blocks per set.

SERIES NOTES:

• Thursday's match will be the Vikings' first-ever meeting between Portland State and Utah Tech.

 
MATCH #13: PORTLAND STATE (4-7, 0-0) vs. SOUTHERN UTAH (1-9, 0-0)
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
DETAILS: Saturday, Sept. 26, 5 p.m. PT, Portland, Ore. (Viking Pavilion)
SCOUTING SOUTHERN UTAH:

• The Southern Utah Thunderbirds return to the Big Sky Conference for the first time since the 2021 season.
• The Thunderbirds have had a tough start to the year, going 1-9 through non-conference play. Their one win came over Chicago State, 3-0, last Friday. They nearly beat Pacific (Calif.) on the opening weekend of the season, winning the first two sets before the Tigers won the next three.
• The Thunderbirds came into the year – their second under head coach Danielle Jensen – picked to finish last in the Big Sky Conference. They're coming off a 3-21 record last season when they went 2-10 in the Western Athletic Conference.
• Despite the struggles, the Thunderbirds represent a strong serving team. They rank fourth in the Big Sky with 1.50 aces per set. Talea Berry ranks fourth individually with 0.42. Ryen Smith has also been a strong server for the Thunderbirds with eight total aces over 22 sets (0.36 per set).
• The Thunderbirds rank last in the Big Sky in kills (10.1), assists (9.29) and digs (10.4) per set while their .114 team hitting percentage also ranks them last in the conference.
• The Thunderbirds rank 10th in the conference with 1.62 blocks per set. Natalie Moore leads the team at the net with 0.91 blocks per set, ranking her 12th in the conference.
• Maya Banks leads the offense with 2.26 kills per set. Kaitlyn Hoelker ranks second behind her with 2.04 kills per set.
• Zorana Stankovska leads the Thunderbirds with 2.18 digs per set.

SERIES NOTES:

• The Vikings lead their all-time series with the Thunderbirds, 15-6.
• All but the teams' most recent meeting – a 3-0 Viking win at a 2023 tournament in Berkeley – came as Big Sky schools when Southern Utah was first in the conference from 2012-21.
• The Vikings have won three in a row over the Thunderbirds.
• Southern Utah's last win over the Vikings came during the 2020-21 COVID winter season. The Thunderbirds swept back-to-back matches in Cedar City that year, winning in four sets and three sets.

 
QUICK HITTERS
Team Notes

• LAST WEEK: The Vikings lost a pair of 3-0 matches to in-state powers Oregon and Oregon State. The Vikings were better against then-No. 23 Oregon, pushing the Ducks late in all three sets. The Beavers had an easier time of it, outhitting the Vikings .435-to-.087.
• TOUGH SERVING: The Vikings rank second in the Big Sky and 55th nationally with 1.83 aces per set. They've recorded seven or more aces in eight of their 11 matches this season, including a season-high 10 against Murray State on Sept. 5. Ava Blascziek ranks second in the Big Sky and 44th nationally with 0.53 aces per set individually. She tied her career high with five aces – including four in a row near the start of the match – against Oregon State last Friday.
• DEFENSE MAKING STRIDES: Oregon State hit a season-high .435 against the Vikings last Friday. But outside of that match, the Viking defense had been making strides. They held four straight opponents below .200 hitting between Sept. 5-11, including two under .100 in a pair of wins over Prairie View A&M and UTRGV. The Vikings also held a high-powered offense in Oregon to below their season hitting percentage last Thursday.
• RIGHT SIDE, STRONG SIDE: Right-side hitters Willow Watson and Katarina Kosic emerged as a 1-2 force at the Red Raider Classic, Sept. 10-11. Both were named to the All-Tournament Team. Kosic averaged 2.90 kills per set on .490 hitting at the tournament, while Watson averaged 2.20 kills and 1.30 blocks per set while hitting .200. Kosic still ranks sixth in the Big Sky with a .351 hitting percentage this season. Watson, meanwhile, ranks second on the team in both kills (2.05) and blocks (0.73) per set.
• UP-AND-DOWN OFFENSE: After hitting .300+ in two of three matches – .360 against Murray State on Sept. 5, .346 against UTRGV on Sept. 10 – the Vikings have hit .119 or less in their last three matches. Kill production has been an issue recently. The Vikings averaged less than 10 kills per set against Oregon and Oregon State last week. Their best mark of the season came against Prairie View A&M on Sept. 10 when they had 56 kills over four sets (14.0 per set).
• BALANCED ATTACK: Five different players have led the Vikings in kills over their first 11 matches of the season. Including ties, that list features Alivia Eikenberg (four times), Willow Watson (three times), Ashley Repetti (three times), Katarina Kosic (two times) and Maryn Hall (once).
• NET PLAY: Head coach Michael Seemann said he hoped to see improvement this season in the Vikings' play at the net. They took a step forward in that regard recently, including a season-high 13.0 blocks in the Vikings' 3-1 win over Prairie View A&M on Sept. 10. The Vikings are averaging 2.13 blocks per set over their last seven matches. That's a big improvement over their first four matches when the Vikings were averaging just 1.29 blocks per set.
• IMPORTANCE OF FIRST SET: The Vikings are 4-1 this season when winning the first set versus 0-6 when losing the opener. It was a similar story last year when the Vikings were 8-1 when winning the first set versus 3-16 when losing it.
• FIVE-SET OPENERS: The Vikings split a pair of five-setters to open their season, losing at Portland on Aug. 28 before turning around and beating Nevada in five sets two days later. The Vikings haven't played a five-setter since those two matches.
• YA DIG?: The Vikings rank sixth in the Big Sky with 13.5 digs per set. Jessica Truong ranks seventh in the Big Sky with 3.72 digs per set individually. Truong is averaging 4.13 digs per set since starting her first match at libero at Northern Illinois on Sept. 4.
• DEUCE SETS: The Vikings have already played 10 sets decided by two points this season. The Vikings are 3-7 in those sets. They're 1-2 in matches where they lose the majority of the two-point sets, and 1-1 in matches where they evenly split the two-point sets. They have yet to win a majority of two-point sets in a match this season.
• EXTRA-POINT SETS: The Vikings have played five sets that went past 25 points, going 2-3 in those five. The longest set the Vikings have played this season remains 27-25 (three times).
• DEEP BENCH: All 18 players have already played in a match this season. Sixteen of the Vikings' 18 players have already played in at least 10 of the team's 40 total sets.
• OPTIONS ON THE LEFT: All four outside hitters have contributed for the Vikings out of the left. Alivia Eikenberg has recorded 10+ kills in four of the team's 11 matches, including the first 20-20 match of her career against Nevada. Maryn Hall had 13 kills on .385 hitting against Nevada, then led the Vikings with 10 kills against Texas Tech. Magdalena Ranitovic is averaging 0.40 aces per set this season. She nearly had a double-double in her first-ever match, recording 11 kills and nine digs against Portland. Ashley Repetti was the breakout star at the NIU Invitational, Sept. 4-5. She tied her career high with nine kills on .222 hitting against Northern Illinois, then topped that with 10 kills on .400 hitting in the Vikings' sweep of Murray State.

 
Head Coach Michael Seemann

• GOING PLATINUM: Michael Seemann is in his platinum year (20th) as head coach of the Portland State volleyball program. He is the longest-tenured head coach of any of the Vikings' 15 varsity programs.
• CHASING 300: Seemann needs only three more wins to reach 300 overall in his career. When he does, he'll be the third different Portland State volleyball coach to reach 300 wins, joining Marlene Piper (445 wins from 1969-72 and 1974-83) and Jeff Mozzochi (371 wins from 1984-92 and 2001-06).
• 200 CONFERENCE WINS: Seemann needs nine more Big Sky Conference wins to reach 200 in his coaching career. Seemann will be the first Viking head coach in any sport to reach 200 Big Sky wins when he reaches the milestone. The department's other winningest coaches competed outside of the Big Sky Conference for all or the majority of their careers.

 
Background Info

• EXPERIENCE RETURNING: The Vikings returned five starters and their libero off last year's team that went 11-17 overall and 7-9 in Big Sky play.
• SHAKING OFF THE INJURY BUG: The Vikings were pushing for a higher seed than they finished (T-7th) last season before injuries got the better of them. Starters Willow Watson, Alivia Eikenberg and Reese Biesemeyer all went down with injuries throughout the year. Watson went down in the team's third conference match – after the Vikings had started Big Sky play 2-0 – while the Vikings lost Eikenberg and Biesemeyer on the final weekend of the regular season. Starting setter Ava Blascziek also missed time at the beginning of the year.
• PRESEASON PREDICTIONS: Big Sky coaches picked the Vikings to finish eighth in an expanded, 11-team conference this season. Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona – the defending Big Sky tournament and regular-season champions, respectively – topped the poll. The Bears edged the 'Jacks by three points, 88-85, despite both teams receiving four first-place votes. Idaho State and Montana, which earned two first-place votes, finished tied for third with 72 points each.
• CONFERENCE SCHEDULE: The addition of Utah Tech and Southern Utah to the Big Sky Conference – to offset the loss of Sacramento State – means the Vikings will play an 18-match conference schedule. That'll be the longest conference season for all Big Sky teams since they played a 20-match schedule in 2013 and 2014.
• ROAD WARRIORS: The Vikings made their longest trip east since 2004 when they traveled to Chicago for a match at DePaul on Sept. 2, then a tournament at Northern Illinois, Sept. 4-5.
• ROSTER SIZE: The Vikings have an 18-player roster for the first time in program history. The 18-player roster leans towards youth as the Vikings have six freshmen and six sophomores. Last year's six-member freshman class marked the Vikings' largest since 2019.