Box Score Box Score
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Portland players hit a .319 hitting percentage and freshman Ariel Usher led all Pilots for the third straight match with 10 kills as UP fell 3-0 to West Coast Conference opponent Loyola Marymount on Saturday afternoon in the Gersten Pavilion. The Lions won by scores of 25-19, 26-24, 28-26.
The Pilots (5-20, 1-9 WCC) had a balanced attack with five players contributing six or more kills. UP out-blocked the Lions 5.0-3.0 in the match that had 33 ties scores and 15 lead changes. LMU freshman Alaina Bergsma sizzled turning in 28 kills on .522 hitting and also added 12 digs for the double-double.
Senior Maria Clemens followed Usher with nine kills on .308 hitting with eight digs, nearly collecting the double-double. Sophomore Marissa Plummer turned in eight kills with a team-high .571 hitting percentage to complement her match-high four blocks, including one solo stuff.
Senior setter Kaylyn Jones threw up 20 assists, enough to break into the UP all-time top-10 assists list. She passed former Pilot Gina DeMatteis (1666 career assists) to sit in the ninth spot with 1673. Meanwhile, freshman Madison Smith contributed 18 assists in the match.
Junior Danielle Dupar led all Pilots in digs with 14. Dupar now has 940 digs in her collegiate career and needs just seven more scoops to tie former Pilot Bridget Beschen for tenth place all-time in UP history. Dupar already sits fourth all-time in digs per set with 3.37 in her career.
It was an even battle to begin the first set with the score all knotted up until 8-8. That would prove to be the last tie score as the Lions shot off on an 8-1 run behind the strength of four kills from Bergsma, making it 16-9. From there the two teams traded points the rest of the set but it was LMU who won the race to 25.
The Pilots were trailing 14-10 in the second set when a Maria Clemens kill sparked a 5-0 run for UP to put them ahead 15-14. It was tit-for-tat the rest of the way until 24-24 when LMU’s Bergsma threw down two straight kills to close out the set.
In the third frame, junior Jessica Clemens’ five kills led the Pilots to a hot .356 hitting percentage as a team. UP jumped out to an early 3-1 lead before a back-and-forth battle would ensue. The Lions first tied it up at 8-8, and then another seven times, before LMU would break the gridlock at 15-15 with four straight points to lead 19-15. Portland was not giving up and rallied back to even the score at 21-21 on a Maria Clemens kill. At 24-23 Portland managed to fend off the first of four LMU match-points but ultimately lost 28-26 off Bergsma’s 28th kill of the match.
Portland returns to the Chiles Center next weekend for their final home matches of the 2009 campaign. UP faces San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7:00 p.m. and then Santa Clara on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 1:00 p.m.
