UPDATED STATS
OGDEN, Utah (September 23, 2016) – Continuing a trend from Thursday night, road teams maintained the edge as both Portland State and Sacramento State earned key wins to open Big Sky volleyball conference play on Friday.
Coupled with Thursday’s action, road teams had a 5-1 advantage in the opening nights of league play, with North Dakota claiming the lone home win over Southern Utah. Eastern Washington, Idaho and Northern Arizona also claimed wins away from home.
Both the Vikings’ and Hornets’ wins carried significance, as PSU topped Idaho State for the first time since 2013 and Sac State handed Weber State its first loss of the season.
Six more games are slated for Saturday, beginning with North Dakota visiting Northern Colorado at 12 p.m. MT. Two more afternoon games will follow and three more during the evening will conclude opening weekend in Big Sky volleyball.
Portland State 3, Idaho State 1: Pati Anae had 18 kills, Erin Clark dished 39 assists with 18 digs and Portland State worked past Idaho State in a league opener Friday.
The Vikings (9-4, 1-0 BSC) hit .169 for the match while limiting ISU to a .096 percentage. Libero Tasha Bojanic led the defensive effort with a career-high 29 digs, Mikaelyn Syych added seven blocks and Sarah Brennan was one of four PSU players with at least six kills.
With the first set tied 17-17, the Vikings put together a 6-1 run with kills from Anae, Katy Wilson and Clark and a pair of blocks. A kill from Brennan gave PSU a 25-20 victory. Portland State surged once again late in the second, closing on a 6-0 run with two kills from Anae and an ace from Caitlin Bettenay to put the Vikings up 2-0 with a 25-19 decision.
The Bengals (5-9, 0-1) got things going in the third set, hitting .189 to PSU’s .041 and leading by as much as eight on the way to a 25-20 decision. PSU had quick 4-0 and 6-1 spurts in the fourth set, making it 18-11 on an ace from Bojanic. ISU closed within four before PSU took the last three points to grab the 25-18 result and give the Vikings their first win over ISU in the last six meetings.
Hayley Farrer had a strong all-around game for ISU, finishing with 39 assists, 17 digs, seven kills and three blocks. She distributed the ball well as Chloe Hirst (12 kills, 13 digs), Marissa Todd (11, 13) and Abby Jensen (10, 10) each registered double-doubles, but ISU also struggled with 34 attack errors on the night.
Sacramento State 3, Weber State 1: Madeline Cannon totaled 16 kills, Shannon Boyle chipped in 15 with 12 digs and Sacramento State opened up conference play handing Weber State its very first loss of the season.
The Hornets (7-8, 1-0) hit .170 for the match, battling past a strong WSU defense with 59 kills to the Wildcats’ 41. Kennedy Kurtz paced the offense with 49 assists, 14 digs and four kills while Mikaela Nocetti (13 kills, nine digs) and Brie Gathright (eight kills, four blocks) also contributed solid efforts on both ends. Lexie Skalbeck had a career-high 32 digs for Sac State.
WSU (9-1, 0-1) inched ahead in the first set with a 7-1 run sparked by two kills from Varley, then held off the Hornets late in the set with a block from Megan Thompson and Varley giving them a 25-21 win. Sac State responded surging out to a 12-5 lead, and throttling down a balanced 8-1 run to close the set and even the match.
Sac State hit .279 and never trailed in the third set, leading by as much as nine late to grab a 25-19 decision. WSU looked to force a fifth set pushing towards an 18-14 advantage, but the Hornets fought back to tie the match. Trailing 23-22, Sac State took advantage of a service error and a bad set from WSU to earn match point. A big serve from Cannon sent WSU’s pass over the net and Kurtz finished it off to win 25-23 and take the match.
The Wildcats had a 15-9 blocking advantage, but were held to a .135 hitting percentage. Andrea Hale led WSU with 10 kills, Thompson added nine with seven blocks and libero Jesse Hover had 29 digs.