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PORTLAND PILOTS (6-20, 1-14 WCC)
vs. No. 12 BYU COUGARS (22-4, 13-2 WCC)
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
Location: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Arena: Chiles Center
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Live Video: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. BYU
Overall Series: 0-7
Here: 0-3
There: 0-4
Neutral: 0-0
Last: @BYU 3, POR 0, Sept. 27, 2014
 
PORTLAND PILOTS (6-20, 1-14 WCC)
vs. SAN DIEGO TOREROS (16-11, 9-6 WCC)
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2014
Location: Portland, Ore.
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Arena: Chiles Center
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Live Video: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. USD
Overall Series: 7-48
Here: 5-22
There: 2-26
Neutral: 0-0
Last: @USD 3, POR 0, Sept. 25, 2014
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots will host the final home conference matches of the season when the BYU Cougars and the USD Toreros visit the Northwest.
• Portland looks to beat BYU for the first time in program history on Thursday night at the Chiles Center. The nationally ranked Cougars beat the Pilots 3-0 back in late September during the first weekend of WCC play.
• The Pilots will face the Toreros for the 56th time in school history. On Sept. 25 No. 23 USD topped the Pilots in San Diego 3-0.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots were in California taking on the Pacific Tigers and the Saint Mary's Gaels.
• Pacific was able to win the match in three sets in Stockton, Calif. on Thursday, solidifying themselves as one of the top teams in the conference.
• Saturday's match against the Gaels needed five sets to establish a winner. After two hours and twenty minutes of play, Saint Mary's took the fifth set and improved to 5-10 in WCC play.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland started out the season strong by winning the Baylor Tournament. Emily Liger was named offensive MVP and Katie Mardesich received defensive MVP honors. Both were also named to the all-tournament team.
• Freshman Ali Koumelis was named to the all-tournament team after completing 68 assists during the Idaho Nike Invitational.
• Sophomore Makayla Lindburg received all-tournament recognition at the La Quinta Inn & Suites Invitational.
• Liger recorded a career high 29 kills in the Pilots Sept. 6 match against San Jose State. This tally puts her at the top of the total kills in four sets WCC ranking and tied for third in the same ranking nationally. The program record number of kills in a four set match is 32 and was set by Cathy Cook in 1998 against Memphis.
• Liger has also made appearances on the national ranking for kills per set and points per set. Her highest ranking occurred on Sept. 14 when she was 7th in kills per set with 4.90.
• Portland ranks second in digs in the conference with 1,546 total and 15.62 digs per set. The Pilots are led by Mardesich who has the third highest individual mark for digs per set in the conference with 4.47 and 420 total digs.
• The Pilots rank third of all WCC teams in service aces during conference play with a tally of 77, with an average of 1.35 per set. Liger and Sophomore Djurdjina Milovic are both among the top ten individually for this category. Milovic is in fifth with 17 total and a .30 average per set, while Liger is at seventh with 16 and a .29 average.
• Portland recorded the first conference win in two years on Thursday, Nov. 6 against San Francisco in five sets at the Chiles Center.
• The Pilots appeared on the WCC's weekly Top Play Tuesday for the week of Nov. 10 at the number two spot after winning a long rally against USF on a setter dump by Koumelis after a couple of key plays by senior Bea Loper kept the play alive.  
• The Pilots are coached by first-year head coach Brent Crouch. Crouch comes to Portland by way of WCC foe Saint Mary's, where he was an assistant coach.
• Also new to the program are assistant coaches Nate Ngo and Nellie Coleman.
• Portland returned 10 letterwinners from the 2013 team while only losing three seniors. Five newcomers joined the 2014 team to round out the roster at 15 players.
• 11 of Portland's 15 players are either freshmen or sophomores.
• The Pilots were on the road for the first five weeks of the season with trips to Texas, California, Idaho, Utah, and California/Utah accumulating over 6,000 total travel miles.