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PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots come back fell short as the Saint Mary's Gaels won the Thursday night match at the Chiles Center. Senior Emily Liger led Portland (5-13, 0-7 WCC) recording a double-double with 13 kills and 23 digs.  

Saint Mary's (5-12, 1-6 WCC) claimed the match win with set scores of 26-24, 23-25, 14-25, 25-20, and 15-6.

Portland and Saint Mary's battled early in the set before the Pilots went on an early three point run to pull away from the Gaels on kills by sophomore Brittney Markwith, freshman Maddy Mandon, and sophomore Katie Sullivan at the 8-5 scoreline. Liger hit a kill through the Saint Mary's double block to put Portland up 16-10. The Gaels went on a five point run that was capped off by a Maegan Conroy service ace to tie the set at 17-17. Saint Mary's took a 19-18 lead causing Portland to take their first time out of the set. Sullivan came out of the break to tie it up on a kill, and then the Pilots won the next two points to have a 21-19 advantage over the Gaels. Saint Mary's came back to tie the set at 22-22 and then again at 24-24. From there, the Gaels used a pair of kills by Conroy to win the set 26-24.

The Pilots had 15 kills during the set and were led by Liger who had six of those. The Gaels had a team attack percentage of .293, which was greater than Portland's .233.

Portland jumped to an early lead in the beginning of the second game. A kill by Liger made the score 10-7 and sophomore Makayla Lindburg had a service ace on the following point to increase the lead to four, but Saint Mary's went on a five point run to take the lead 12-11. The two sides traded points in the middle of the set before Portland took a small lead heading into the media time out at 15-13. Mandon gave the Pilots the lead at 17-16 and then again at 18-17 on kills that went off the Gael blockers and soared out of bounds. The Pilots stayed just ahead of Saint Mary's through the remainder of the set, and freshman Ali Koumelis set up Mandon on a kill to win the set and tie up the match.

Markwith, Liger, and Mandon each contributed a team high three kills en route to the set win. Defensively the Pilots had 31 digs, led by senior Katie Mardesich who had 12.

Sullivan had a big kill to put the Pilots up 6-2 in the beginning of the third. Koumelis added a service ace to put the score at 8-3 as Portland continued to control the set. Saint Mary's never threatened the Pilots as Portland increased their lead through the set. Lindburg tipped the ball over the Saint Mary's blocker's to give the Pilots the 25^th point and the match lead 2-1. Lindburg led the set for the Pilots with four kills and the setter duo of sophomore Djurdjina Milovic and Koumelis had eight assists total, four each.

The Pilots continued their momentum from the third into the fourth taking the lead 8-3 on freshman Sarah Savoca's seventh kill of the match. Portland controlled the next part of the set until Saint Mary's earned four points in a row to cut the Portland lead to three at 17-14. The Gaels used another four point run to take the lead 19-18 forcing a Pilots time out to slow the Saint Mary's momentum. Using a 15-3 run, Saint Mary's came back to win the fourth set and force a fifth tie breaker set. Portland was led by Savoca who had three kills during the set.

The Gaels started the fifth set strong going ahead 7-1. Portland battled back and closed the Saint Mary's lead to four at 9-5, but the Gaels pulled away and won the set and match.

It was a defensive battle as Portland finished with 87 digs and 4 blocks and the Gaels recorded 92 digs and 17 blocks.

 The Pilots continue their home stand against the Pacific Tigers on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m.