BOXSCORE: Portland State-Northern Colorado
POSTGAME NOTES: Benson, VanDerMost, Raguse, Shreeve

GREELEY, Colo. -- There were a lot of attacks, plenty of kills, and a lot of good defense between Northern Colorado's and Portland State's women's volleyball teams Saturday night inside Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion. 

But when the dust settled -- following a match-clinching stonewall block from the Bears' Lauren Carter and Allison Raguse -- Northern Colorado found itself with a 3-1 victory and within percentage points of first place in the Big Sky Conference.

And throw in the Bears' first victory against Portland State in three years of Big Sky play, and you've got an all-around exclamation-point victory for head coach Lyndsey Benson's program.

The Bears (10-3, 4-1 Big Sky Conference) are now tied atop the conference in the loss column with Portland State (12-4, 5-1 Big Sky).

“We haven’t seen every team in the conference," Benson said following the 25-21, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20 victory. "NAU is going to be very tough, Weber State is going to be tough – so it’s too early to say anything about winning conference titles, but we’ve now knocked off No. 1 and No. 2 in the preseason poll. We’re definitely on the right track.”

Four Bears players reached double-digits in kills in the victory, including Allison Raguse (14), Ashley Lichtenberg (13), Kenzie Shreeve (12)and Taylor Smith (12). And Breanna VanDerMost scooped up 25 digs -- the second highest single-match total of her career.

But Northern Colorado's patience, especially when the going got tough, is what impressed Benson.

“There were a couple streaks where they went on runs, but we got impatient offensively there," Benson said. "We don’t have to try and force something. We just need to be patient, be patient, be patient and eventually we knew we would get an open net and we’d have a chance to go in for the kill.

“When they made runs –- when they beat us in game three –- that was the difference. We got impatient and we got lulled into a little bit of a slow pace. And I think that was one of the factors of the match. When we could go at a fast pace, we were in control of the match. When we started playing at their slow pace, they were in control.”

Both teams struggled with their hitting percentages -- the Bears' .178 team mark was just ahead of the Vikings' .144 -- but, in the end, the raucous Butler-Hancock home crowd was enough to keep the 2008 Northern Colorado train on the tracks.

Next stop? 7 p.m. Tuesday night, when the Bears host instate rival and national powerhouse Colorado State.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence going into the CSU game," Northern Colorado junior Allison Raguse said, "and now we know we can handle the heat from teams. We’ve got great defenders, and we know we can score, too. It’s going to be a fun match.

“We’re just really excited to play against big schools like that and get a lot of people here, into Butler-Hancock. It’s very exciting to get a chance to play them.”