Pilots End Season with Loss to BYU

Box Score
 
PROVO, Utah --- Junior OH Ariel Usher led the Pilots with 13 kills, but the Portland Pilots suffered a sweep at the hands of the BYU Cougars (25-22, 25-17, 25-19) Saturday afternoon at the Smith Fieldhouse. Senior MB Marissa Plummer recorded nine kills while senior OH Kati Hronek had eight kills in the final match of their collegiate careers.
 
Portland’s season ends with a record of 8-21 overall and 2-14 in the West Coast Conference. BYU improves to 21-9 on the year with a 10-6 mark against WCC teams.
 
The first set was a back and forth game with 11 ties and three lead changes. Portland took a 20-19 lead late on a kill by redshirt-junior MB Rachel Femling. BYU countered with a 6-3 run on the strength of three kills from Jennifer Hamson.
 
Femling would finish the match with six schools on just eight attempts (.750). Sophomore setter Monica Jordan recorded 38 assists on the day, routinely feeding Usher. Usher’s 13 kills were a team high and the Hillsboro, Ore., native added five digs and three blocks.
 
Hamson led the Cougars with 16 kills and six blocks. Nicole Warner added seven blocks for BYU, which held a 13-4 advantage in that category.
 
“Ariel continued her stellar play and Kati did a solid job offensively,” head coach Joe Houck said following the match. “Rachel was very efficient and we competed well, but had a hard time matching up physically.”
 
Plummer, a four-year starter, finished her career ranked third in block assists (306) and fourth in total blocks (375). Hronek became a reliable attacker for the Pilots as an upperclassman, posting the second highest kill total for the Pilots this year with 273. She led the team last year with 334 kills.
 
Both Hronek and Plummer received WCC Honorable Mention last year.