The Portland Pilots play their first home matches of the season this week as they welcome four teams to the 2008 Nike Invitational at the Chiles Center. Kansas State, UC Irvine, Arizona State and South Florida will all be here for the tourney, which begins Thursday evening and runs through Saturday. Kansas State and UC Irvine get things started with a match on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. Portland follows with its home-opener against ASU at 7:30 p.m. On Friday, KSU squares off with ASU at noon before the Pilots take the court against UC Irvine at 2:30 p.m. South Florida sees its first action of the tournament against the Sun Devils Friday evening, which is followed by UP’s match with K-State at 7:30 p.m.
It’s an early start on Saturday as Irvine meets ASU at 9:30 a.m. Kansas State and USF are slated to play at 12:30 p.m. before the Bulls and Pilots conclude the tourney with a 7:00 p.m. match on Saturday night.
Game Day Coverage
All Portland home matches will once again be video streamed live at www.pilotsvideo.com. A season pass is available for $40, while single-game matches are $8. Free audio streams and live stats will continue to be available at www.portlandpilots.com. For this week’s Nike Invitational, video and audio will be available for UP’s four matches, while livestats will be provided for the other five contests.
Pilot Podcasts
As part of the new and improved portlandpilots.com, fans will be treated with frequent and exclusive interviews from all UP athletic programs throughout the 2008-09 sports seasons.
Visit the Pilots Podcast page for previews, reviews, Q&A’s and other fun features. Coaches, student-athletes and athletic administrators will all be frequent contributors to the new Podcasting page.
Looking Back
Portland opened the 2008 season and the Joe Houck era by winning one of three matches in Bozeman, Mont., last weekend. On Friday, the Montana State Bobcats defeated the Pilots 3-1. On Saturday, the ninth-ranked Washington Huskies blanked UP 3-0. Saturday night, Portland picked up its first win of the season in thrilling fashion, defeating MSU 3-2. In the decisive fifth set, UP was down 10-5 and 12-9 before rallying for the 15-13 win. Senior K.C. Fox led the way against the Bobcats with a match and season-high 17 kills.
Scouting Kansas State
The Wildcats opened the season last weekend by going 2-1 at a tournament in West Lafayette, Ind. K-State swept Tennessee State and Duke before falling 3-1 to Purdue. Senior Rita Liliom leads the Wildcat attack thus far with a team-high 37 kills.
Suzie Fritz is in her seventh year at the helm of Kansas State. The Wildcats went 22-9 overall last season and advanced to the NCAA Second Round. Nine letterwinners and four starters returned this fall. Portland has split two previous meetings with Kansas State. Most recently, the Wildcats swept the Pilots 3-0 in 1994 in Corvallis, Ore.
Scouting UC Irvine
The Anteaters opened the season by going 2-1 at the San Diego State Tournament last weekend. UC Irvine defeated SDSU and Albany, while losing to San Diego. Lauren Kellerman has a team-high 25 kills, Taryn Robertson has 93 assists and Devon Sutherland has 39 digs.
Charlie Brande is in his ninth year as head coach of the Anteaters. UC Irvine returned 14 letterwinners and six starters from a squad that went 22-11 last season. The Pilots and Anteaters have split two previous meetings. Last fall, UC Irvine swept UP 3-0 in Irvine, Calif. Portland won the other meeting 3-1 in Portland in 1995.
Scouting Arizona State
The Sun Devils opened 2008 by winning two of three matches at home last weekend at the ASU Sheraton Classic. ASU swept South Carolina and Dayton and lost 3-1 to UNLV. Sophomore Sarah Reaves has 48 kills on the young season, junior Marina Mercer has handed out 113 assists and sophomore Sarah Johnson has made a team-high 44 digs.
Jason Watson, who was 74-18 in three seasons at BYU, is in his first season as head coach at Arizona State. The Sun Devils went 15-16 last fall and returned seven letterwinners and three starters this year. This marks the first meeting ever between UP and Arizona State.
Scouting South Florida
The Bulls, who opened the fall with a perfect 3-0 record, are scheduled to play at Seattle on Thursday night before traveling to Portland. In Tampa, Fla., last weekend, USF swept Grambling and Eastern Kentucky before defeating Northeastern 3-1. So far, USF is led by junior Marcela Gurgel with 36 kills, junior Brittany Castelamare with 63 assists and senior Stephanie Augustavo with 21 digs.
Head coach Claire Lessinger is in her fifth year with the Bulls, who went 19-10 last fall. USF returns 12 letterwinners and six starters. This is the first meeting between UP and South Florida.
A Trio of Seniors
Seniors K.C. Fox, Ashley Grayson and Jennifer Sheedy figure to play a major role for the Pilots this season. Fox, an outsider hitter, is healthy this fall after missing most of last season with a hand injury. She entered her senior campaign with 156 career kills, 199 career digs and 20 career aces. She’s also handed out 46 assists.
Grayson, a middle blocker who can play multiple positions, shouldered a major load of the Pilot attack in 2007. She led the team with 310 kills and 98 total blocks and connected on 27 service aces.
Sheedy, Grayson’s counterpart in the middle, will also handle a heavy load this season after having a solid junior year. Sheedy, who played in all 101 games during her junior campaign, connected on 280 kills last fall and finished second on the team with 83 total blocks.
Statistically Speaking
The Pilots returned 10 letterwinners this season, which means most of UP’s statistical leaders from last year are back. Senior middle blocker Ashley Grayson led the team with 310 kills last season, while sophomore outside hitter Jessica Clemens and senior blocker Jennifer Sheedy were right behind with 298 kills and 280 kills, respectively. Junior setter/outside hitter Maria Clemens was fourth for the Pilots last year with 247 kills.
Jessica Clemens was also Portland’s most potent server last fall, finishing with 36 aces. Grayson (98) and Sheedy (83) led the way in total blocks, while sophomore libero Danielle Dupar had a team-high 348 digs. The Clemenses were second and third in digs, with Jessica finishing at 306 and Maria totaling 237.
Graduated setter Kara Pein led UP with 944 assists last season.
The Career Charts
Four-year starters Ashley Grayson and Jennifer Sheedy have both landed on UP’s all-time career charts. Entering this season, Sheedy ranked fifth on the all-time attack percentage chart with a mark of .260. Grayson began her senior campaign eighth on the career block assists list with 187 and 10th in total blocks with 227.
Sheedy, who recorded 280 kills last year, is just 146 kills from cracking the top-ten list in that category. She’s also 25 total blocks away from landing on the all-time blocks list.
The Clemenses
Sisters Maria and Jessica Clemens are back for their second season together on The Bluff. Maria, a junior, moves to setter this year after spending the last two years as mainly an outside hitter. Jessica, a sophomore outside hitter, had a phenomenal freshman campaign. She led the team last fall with 36 service aces, while finishing second in kills (298), kills per game (3.01) and digs (306). Jessica also plays basketball for UP.
The Clemens name is a familiar one throughout the state of Oregon. Brother Kellen was a standout quarterback for the Oregon Ducks and is currently playing for the New York Jets in the NFL.
