Portland State University Athletics

BIOGRAPHY
One of the best attackers in the recent history of the Portland State volleyball program, Pati Anae returned to the Park Blocks in 2022 and will enter her fourth year back on campus during the Vikings' 2025 fall season.
 
In three years on staff at Portland State, the Vikings have already seen success under Anae. The Vikings made the Big Sky championship match for the first time since 2013 during Anae’s first year back as an assistant coach in 2022. The Vikings also made their second straight appearance in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship that year, while the Vikings recorded their second straight winning season with Anae on staff in 2023.
 
AN ALUM MAKES GOOD
An All-Big Sky first-team selection in 2016 when she was a senior for the Vikings, Anae has led several current Vikings to their own successes.
 
In 2023, the Vikings won three matches against Pac-12 programs, including two over Oregon State for the program’s first season sweep of the Beavers since 1986. The sweep of the Beavers featured a 3-0 road win over the Beavers, the program’s first road sweep of OSU since 1980. The Vikings also went 10-3 at home in 2023, the program’s best home record since going 14-4 at the old Stott Center in 2013.
 
Individually, Sophia Meyers was unanimously selected to the All-Big Sky first team after she became the first Viking since Whitney Phillips in 2010 to average over 3.00 kills (3.52) and digs (3.01) per set. Meyers also led the Big Sky and ranked in the top 25 of the nation with 0.47 aces per set, an average that broke the single-season program record that Meyers’ former teammate, Ellie Snook, set at 0.42 per set in 2021.
 
Lauryn Anderson, meanwhile, received Top Newcomer honors from the Big Sky Conference, while also making the all-conference second team. Anderson earned the honors after leading the Big Sky Conference with a .384 hitting percentage. That was another program record for the Vikings, as Anderson’s mark bettered the old record of .373 that Katy Wilson set in 2017.

This past fall, Anae helped Carisa Barron become the fourth straight Viking to earn Big Sky Top Newcomer honors, as she helped Barron transition from a setter/right-side hitter to a left-side hitter. Barron averaged 3.25 kills per set against conference opponents this season, the sixth-best average for any player within the conference during league play. That was a marked improvement from her numbers through non-conference play, when she was averaging just 2.34 kills per set. 
 
In addition to making the Big Sky championship match, the 2022 season featured the program’s best start to Big Sky play (9-1) since they went 14-1 at the start of the 2012 Big Sky schedule. Anae helped foster one of the best offenses in the program's Division I history that season. For the first time since 2007, the Vikings had three players average at least 3.00 kills per set between Makayla Lewis (3.51), Meyers (3.07) and Parker Webb (3.03). Additionally, the Vikings hit .227 over the course of the season for their second-best mark during the program's Division I era.

Setter Madison Friebel led the Vikings to the record-breaking offense, earning her Top Newcomer honors from the Big Sky Conference. She earned the honor after leading the Vikings to conference leads in kills per set (14.2) and assists per set (13.4) within Big Sky play.

Friebel also made the All-Big Sky first team along with Lewis and Webb. Webb broke the Division I program record for points, setting the record in the Vikings' final match of the season.

Meyers and Snook also picked up All-Big Sky second-team honors at the end of the season, while Snook received her third straight Big Sky Libero of the Year honor. She shared the award with Northern Colorado's Michaela Boon after leading the Big Sky in digs per set (4.57) for the third straight season. Snook also became the Vikings' all-time digs leader during the season, and went on to become just the fourth player in Big Sky Conference history to pass the 2,000-dig benchmark in their career.
 
BRINGING A PLAYER’S MINDSET
Anae’s playing experience within the Vikings’ program gives the program a different perspective on the coaching staff. As a player, Anae was named an All-Big Sky first-team selection in 2016, when she set the third-best single-season kills-per-set average during the 25-point scoring format. Anae averaged 4.26 kills per set in 2016 as she led the Big Sky in the category. Anae also led the Big Sky with 4.84 points per set in 2016, and led the Vikings with 15 double-doubles.
 
Since graduating, Anae played professionally in Germany for the Rote Raben volleyball club. She then entered the coaching world as head coach for the Vortex Volleyball Club's 15's team in Davis County, Utah. Anae spent the past year as an assistant coach for Yavapai College, a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) school that advanced to the NJCAA Region 1 Championship last season.
  
Anae brings experience at both the junior college and Division I levels as a player. Before transferring to Portland State, Anae played two years for the College of Southern Idaho. Anae started 35 matches in her second year at Southern Idaho, averaging 2.10 kills and 1.89 digs per set.