Box Score Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Portland Pilots volleyball team fell 3-0 to the San Diego Toreros Thursday in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Portland hung tough but USD won by scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-7.
Portland now sits at 6-22 and 2-11 in the West Coast Conference, while USD improves to 17-7 and 9-4 in league play.
Junior Danielle Dupar led all players on defense recording a match-high 16 digs. Freshman Ariel Usher had a team-high six kills on the night and also added two blocks. Sophomore Marissa Plummer led the team in blocks with 3.0 total. Senior Kaylyn Jones was all over the court posting 11 assists, nine digs and two kills for the Pilots. Junior Jessica Clemens posted a team-high .333 hitting percentage with five kills on 15 swings.
The Pilots held a tight blocking battle with 5.0 blocks to the Toreros’ 6.0 but were out-hit 43 kills to 25.
The first set began with USD grabbing an 8-3 lead forcing a Portland timeout. Out of the break, the Pilots rebounded with three consecutive points from a Plummer kill, a block from Plummer and Maria Clemens followed by a Rachel Femling kill. But San Diego regained momentum with a 5-1 run to go up 13-7. Trailing at 18-11 the Pilots seemed to heat up with a four-point-streak fueled by two straight Kate Bostwick kills and bolstered by a Shelley Sievers kill and a USD error, to sit at 18-15. San Diego would then reply with a 3-0 run, to bring the score to 21-15, and kept rolling to the 25-19 set victory.
Tied at 9-9 in the second set, the Toreros took off on a 10-2 run to give USD a 19-11 lead. The eight-point advantage was too much for the Pilots to overcome and USD would take the second set 25-15.
The Toreros were hot-hitting in the third set with a .379 hitting clip powered by eight kills from Torey Ellick. Dupar would scoop seven digs in the set but USD proved to be too much and cruised on to close the match with a sweep.
The Pilots will wrap up their season with a match against WCC opponent No. 22 Saint Mary’s on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 1:00 p.m in Moraga, Calif.
