Viking recognized nationally

Portland State wide reciever and kick returner Aaron Woods was named as both the Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week and the Sports Network's National Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in Saturday's game against Weber State.

The press release says it best:

Woods returned five kickoffs for 202 yards and a 97-yard touchdown to keep Portland State close in its 36-29 loss to No. 11-ranked Weber State at home. His kickoff return for a touchdown helped the Vikings climb back from a 28-10 deficit late in the third quarter. Woods had five catches for 128 and two TDs, his second scoring catch on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Drew Hubel gave the Vikings the lead with 1:15 remaining.

Woods finished with 330 all-purpose yards. Woods leads the Big Sky Conference with an average of 192.8 all-purpose yards per game, ranking third in the nation in that category. This season, Woods has jumped all the way from 10th to second in career kickoff return yards (1,387) at Portland State. Woods set a school single-season record with 908 kickoff return yards last year.

Mike Lund
Assistant Athletics Director
Portland State University

 

Fradella earns fifth Player of the Week

For the second straight week, Vikings' setter Nique Fradella has been chosen as the Big Sky Player of the Week.

Press release, take it away:

Portland State’s Nique Fradella has claimed her second straight Big Sky Player of the Week award for matches played the week of Sept. 7-14.

The Vikings won the Circus Circus Invitational in Reno, Nev. last week and Fradella was tabbed the MVP after notching 11.00 assists per set, and hitting .429 over the tournament. Portland State defeated Sam Houston State, UC Davis and host Nevada to take home the title. Earlier in the week, the Vikings took No. 12 Oregon to four sets before falling on the Ducks’ homecourts.

The senior setter notched 151 total assists, 28 digs and seven blocks on the week. She averaged 10.07 assists and 1.87 digs per set. In a 3-1 win over UC Davis on Saturday afternoon, Fradella recorded her third double-double of the season with 43 assists and 10 digs. She connected on 5-of-7 attempts for a .571 hitting percentage, and added three blocks and two service aces.

Fradella followed that up with 46 assists on Saturday evening as Portland State closed out the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Nevada. She started the week with 30 assists against Oregon. On Friday, she had 32 assists, two blocks and five kills as Portland State shut out Sam Houston State.

The native of Lake Arrowheard, Calif. has won the weekly award five times in her career. She was also honored twice in 2007 and once as a freshman in 2006.

Autumn L. Wehr
Big Sky Conference

Brown earns Big Sky recognition

Vikings' kicker Zach Brown was chosen today as the Big Sky Conference's Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in Saturday's game against Southern Oregon.

Straight from the press release:

Brown, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound freshman from Keizer, Ore., booted field goals of 52 and 46 yards in Portland State’s 34-10 victory over Southern Oregon. Brown’s 52-yard field goal came in the second quarter and put the Vikings up 17-3. It was the longest field goal by a Portland State kicker in 22 years and was 3-yards shy of tying the school record. Brown added the 46-yarder in the fourth quarter. Brown was also 4-for-4 on extra points and finished the game with 10 points. This is the first Player of the Week honor for Brown.

Jon Kasper
Assistant Commisioner/Media Relations
Big Sky Conference

Also nominated for this week's honors were junior quarterback Drew Hubel and sophomore linebacker Ryan Rau.