Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Portland State
Wildcats fall 3-2 to Portland State in home opener
10/2/2015 3:37:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
OGDEN, Utah – Weber State's volleyball team had its first home game of the season falling to Portland State 2-3 Thursday night in the Swenson Gym.
"I'm really proud of the way we competed at the end of the first set, the second set, and the third," head coach Jeremiah Larsen said. "I thought we were focused on the right things in order for us to be successful."Â
In the first set of the match Weber State fell behind 6-13. The Wildcats went on an 8-3 run bringing the score to 18-21 when the Vikings surged forward to claim the set 25-20.
The second set of play the Wildcats found some footing and started the set with an 11-5 score. Amanda Varley had five kills in the second set and Ciera Borho stepped up with two big kills and one block that kept the momentum going for the Wildcats to claim the set 25-20. Weber State hit an even .500 percentage in the second set. The score was tied at 1-1 going into the break.
Weber State jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the third set. The closest the Vikings got to taking the lead wasn't until 21-18 but the Wildcats accepted the challenge and went on to claim the set with a kill by Samantha Staker for a final of 25-20. During the third set the Wildcats accumulated 17 digs and were led by Thamires Cavalcanti who had six. The Wildcats led two sets to one going into the fourth set.
Portland State started the fourth set with an 8-5 lead over the Wildcats a block by Megan Thompson and kill by Varley brought the score to an even 10-10. The Vikings went on a 12-5 run bringing the score 22-15. A service error by Thompson ended the fourth set 25-18 putting the teams tied at 2-2 going into the fifth and final set.
Portland State jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fifth set and continued to take advantage of Weber State's errors and ended the set with a 15-8 final score.Â
"We found some adversity in the fourth and fifth set which got in our way and we lost the mental edge we needed to compete," Larsen said. Â
Varley led the Wildcats with 16 kills and 37 attacks for a .297 percentage. Borho was close behind with 12 kills and 33 attacks. Taylor Christensen-Kinikini had 41 assists. Cavalcanti had 19 digs and Staker had 10. Weber State had 16 team blocks and four service aces. Portland State had 32 attack errors to Weber State's 23.Â
"I think we're really close to being a very good volleyball team if we can learn to block out distractions and focus on the task at hand," Larsen said.
Weber State is now 5-9 overall on the season and 1-2 in the Big Sky Conference. The Wildcats will next take on Sacramento State at home Saturday at 7 p.m. before heading back on the road with a stretch of four games against Big Sky opponents, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Northern Arizona, and Southern Utah.Â
