Pilots (5-18, 1-7) vs. Pepperdine (12-10, 5-4, third WCC)
7:00 p.m. – Malibu, Calif. (Firestone Fieldhouse)
Series: Pepperdine leads 43-2
Last meeting: Oct. 10, 2009: PEPP 3, POR 0 (Portland, Ore.)
Last season: 0-2, @POR 0, PEPP 3 • @PEPP 3, POR 2
Saturday, Nov. 7
Pilots (5-18, 1-7) vs. Loyola Marymount (10-13, 1-8, eighth WCC)
1:00 p.m. – Los Angeles, Calif. (Gersten Pavilion)
Series: LMU leads 37-9
Last meeting: Oct. 8, 2009: POR 3, LMU 2 (Portland, Ore.)
Last season: 0-2, @POR 1, LMU 3 • @LMU 3, POR 0
This Week in Pilots Volleyball...
The seventh-place Portland Pilots travel this weekend to California for two West Coast Conference matches against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. UP-Pepperdine is set for Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7:00 p.m. at the Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif. The UP-LMU match gets underway on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 1:00 p.m. at the Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles, Calif. UP will be looking to snap a six-match losing streak.
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 (13 matches), while single-game matches are $8. Free audio streams and live stats will continue to be available at www.portlandpilots.com.
Stay Connected
Fans can now follow the Portland Pilots like never before. Just visit Twitter (www.twitter.com/PortlandPilots or assistant volleyball coach Sara Reilly at www.twitter.com/UPVolleyball), facebook (facebook.com/PortlandPilots) and YouTube (youtube.com/UPPurplePride) for access to everything Pilots.
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 2009-10 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 contributors to the new Podcasting page.
Looking Back
The Pilots had just one match last week falling to northwest rival Gonzaga 3-2 in an action-packed, back-and-forth West Coast Conference match Saturday afternoon at the Chiles Center. Portland had three match points in the fifth set, but Gonzaga came back to win 18-25, 26-24, 20-25, 29-27 and 20-18.
Freshman outside hitter Ariel Usher led the Pilots with a season-high 22 kills, doubling her previous high. Junior Jessica Clemens recorded her team-leading ninth double-double with 18 kills and 11 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Marissa Plummer added a career-high 15 kills and team-high eight blocks. Senior Maria Clemens also had a double-double with 10 kills and 16 digs.
Redshirt freshman Rachel Femling had a season high with nine kills, while junior libero Danielle Dupar was everywhere as she logged a career-high 34 digs. Senior setter Kaylyn Jones had 43 assists and 10 digs.
Scouting Pepperdine
The Waves, currently in third-place in the WCC, swept then No. 19 San Diego (36-34, 25-17, 25-18) and then lost at Saint Mary’s in five sets (22-25, 25-19, 24-26, 25-20, 15-13). Rachel Grochmal had a career-high 25 kills at Saint Mary’s and averaged 4.50 kills per set for the week. Kim Hill averaged 3.00 kills and Lilla Frederick was at 2.75 kills and 3.38 digs.
Hill, the 2008 WCC Freshman of the Year, is 14th in the nation in hitting percentage (.389). Kiah Fiers is 34th nationally in assists (10.90) while Stevi Robinson is 41st in service aces (0.42) and 44th in digs (4.87). Fiers leads the Waves attack averaging 10.46 assists per set and recorded her 4,000th career assist this season.
Last season, the Waves finished 20-8 (8-6, 4th WCC) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row but suffered a first-round loss to Long Beach State. Six letterwinners and four starters return this fall, as well as seven newcomers.
Head coach Nina Matthies is in her 27th season at the helm of the Pepperdine program.
Pilots/Waves Series
Pepperdine owns the 43-2 advantage all-time against Portland and has won 29 in a row. The last Pilot win was in 1994, a 3-2 victory in the Chiles Center. Playing at Pepperdine in the Firestone Fieldhouse, Portland is 22-0. The last time the two teams met, the Waves defeated UP 3-0 in Portland, Ore.
Scouting Loyola Marymount
LMU fell twice last weekend to Saint Mary’s and San Diego on the road. Alesha Young posted a league-leading ninth double-double of the season against the Gaels with 29 assists and 10 digs. Ariana Covington also had a double-double with a match-high 11 kills and 12 digs, while Alaina Bergsma tied the match-high with 11 kills. Against USD, Bergsma led all players with 15 kills. She leads the league in conference play with 151 kills and is the overall leader in aces with 81. Becky Stehling is sixth in the league in hitting percentage at .337 and hit a .500 clip last week at San Diego.
10 returning letterwinners and five starters are joined by seven newcomers this fall. Last season LMU went 13-17 overall and 3-11 in the WCC, good enough for sixth.
Steve Stratos enters his 19th year as head coach at LMU.
Pilots/Lions Series
LMU leads the all-time series with UP 37-9. In their last meeting on Oct. 8, 2009, the Pilots beat the Lions 3-2 at home at the Chiles Center. Portland went 0-2 last season against LMU.
