PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Thunderbirds dropped their match against Portland State on Thursday, Sept. 26 by a score of 3-1 (25-17, 15-25, 25-14, 25-8), dropping to 0-2 in conference play. Despite the loss, Southern Utah had perhaps its best set of the season in the second frame, a performance that the team will look to replicate moving forward.
Match Recap
The first set was full of momentum swings as Portland State jumped out to an early lead, with back-to-back kills by Jordyn Romano pushing the score to 7-3. Kaitlyn Hoelker returned the favor with two kills in three points as the Thunderbirds went on a 9-3 run of their own to take the lead at 12-10. The Vikings then scored 12 of the next 15 points en route to a 25-17 set win.
The Thunderbirds came into the second set fired up as three straight blocks by Emilia Linden quickly pushed Southern Utah to a 12-6 lead that it wouldn't relinquish. Every time Portland State managed to scratch a point across, the Thunderbirds would respond, with five different players recording kills as Southern Utah ran away with the second frame, 25-15.
Momentum swung back to the Vikings in set three as Alivia Eikenberg found an offensive groove, recording three early kills to help Portland State build a 10-3 lead. After back-to-back Southern Utah points brought the deficit back down to five, the Vikings engineered a 7–2 run that swelled the lead to ten, and even though Natalie Moore tried to spark a comeback with two kills in three points, the Thunderbirds were unable to catch up, losing the third set 25-14 before dropping the final set 25-8.
Stats Review
It was the best offensive performance for the Thunderbirds since their win against Chicago State, getting their hitting percentage back above the century mark while recording fewer than 20 attack errors for the second consecutive match. Southern Utah's servers also enjoyed a big night, scoring eight service aces. On defense, Southern Utah made sure Portland State had to fight for every point, with nine total blocks and 48 digs as a team.
Audrey Atwood led all Thunderbirds in scoring for the night as the USU-Eastern transfer led the team with eight kills while assisting on two blocks and recording two aces for 11 total points. Ryen Smith scored six total kills while collecting two assisted blocks for the night, making it six straight matches with a block and four straight matches with five-plus kills for her. Emilia Linden led the team in total blocks with four (one solo), and Natalie Moore wasn't far behind as she continued her run of excellent two-way play with six kills on 14 attempts and three total blocks. It was a big night for Talea Berry as the freshman led the team in both assists with 17 and digs with nine, while tying for the team lead with two service aces.
Looking Ahead
The Thunderbirds have a short turnaround ahead of them as they travel to St George, Utah on Tuesday, Sep. 29 for a rivalry matchup against Utah Tech at 6:00 pm MT.
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