PORTLAND, Ore. (Sept. 13, 2019)-Jasmine Powell was one of three Vikings players to record double-doubles, as she finished with a team-high 21 assists and had a team-best 14 digs, to lead host Portland State to a hard fought 3-2 (25-20, 15-25, 23-25, 25-21, 8-15) victory over the Lady Bears on Friday afternoon on Day 1 of the Les Schwab Rose City Showdown at Vikings Pavilion.
Toni McDougald and Parker Webb totaled 18 kills and 13 digs, respectively, while Caroline Dragani finished with a double-double of a match-high 49 assists and 12 digs. Ellie Snook finished with a match-high 22 digs to help the Vikings (2-4) claim the first meeting between the two programs.
For Morgan State (5-3), the loss was the first five-set defeat this season for the Lady Bears in three opportunities. Zoe McBride, who was born in Portland, finished with a match-high 24 kills and had 17 digs. Tylar Roberson (14 kills, 15 digs) and Sophie Pajevic (10 assists, 17 digs) also had double-doubles for the Lady Bears. Roi Wallace totaled 41 assists to go with eight digs and a match-high six service aces, while Jennevy Santos finished with a team-best 19 digs.
The Lady Bears finished the contest with 58 kills to 57 from Portland State. However, the difference came from Morgan State giving up 27 points on attack errors, 13 more points than what the host Vikings surrendered, who had 14 attack errors. Morgan State had a hitting percentage of .179, while the Vikings hit .264 for the match.
Morgan State had quite the travel adventure in even getting to Portland. Following a canceled flight and having to split the team up on three separate flights, the travel party of 18 finally all met up in Portland roughly six and a half hours after its original scheduled arrival time.
Despite all of that, the Lady Bears came out in the first set and battled Portland State and earned a 25-20 victory. Trailing 11-9, Morgan State would go on an 8-0 spurt behind the serve of Wallace to take a 17-11 lead. During the run, Wallace recorded five of her match-high six service aces. The Vikings got within 22-19 after back-to-back attack errors by Morgan State, but that was as close as they would get. The Lady Bears scored three of the final four points for the win.
It appeared as if the unfortunate travel circumstances had caught up with the Lady Bears, as Portland State cruised to a 25-15 victory in Set 2, by jumping out to a 9-2 advantage and led by as much as 10 points at 20-10. The Vikings recorded 13 kills that set and only had two errors for an attack percentage of .355.
The Vikings then pulled out a close 25-23 victory in the third set to take a 2-1 lead. Morgan State took an 18-13 advantage on a kill by Roberson, but Portland State ran off four straight points to take a 21-18 lead. Morgan State battled back to score three consecutive points to even the score at 21 all, but the Vikings countered with three straight of their own, following back-to-back attack errors by Morgan State to take a 24-23 lead. Morgan State received kills by McBride and Shadae Debraux to cut the deficit to 24-23, but Powell ended the set with a kill for the Portland victory.
Morgan State fell behind 15-8 in Set 4, but would not go away. A 7-2 run by the Lady Bears brought them within 17-15. Morgan State trailed 21-20 when Wallace went back to serve. She served out the next five points, as the Lady Bears completed the comeback with a 25-21 win to force a fifth set.
Portland State scored four straight points and later held a 10-6 advantage after a Morgan State attack error. A kill by McBride brought the Lady Bears within 10-7, but the Vikings scored five of the next six points, including the last three for the 15-8 victory.
