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PORTLAND, Ore. --- The No. 12 Brigham Young Cougars defeated the Portland Pilots 3-0 in a West Coast Conference volleyball match played on Thursday night at the Chiles Center. The Cougars, who clinched the WCC title outright with the win, won by scores of 25-14, 25-19 and 25-21.
 
The Pilots (6-21, 1-15 WCC) hung around during the first set and were within a point after consecutive kills by Makayla Lindburg and Katie Sullivan. The deficit was still just two moments later when Sara Savoca connected on a kill to make the score 10-12. But from there the Cougars would embark an 8-3 run before eventually winning the first set.
 
BYU (23-4, 14-2 WCC) claimed the first three points of the second set before UP's Katie Mardesich tallied a service ace and Brittney Markwith followed with a kill, which leveled the score 5-5. The Cougars would then create some separation, but the Pilots responded again and pulled within 14-11 after a pair of BYU attacking errors. Bea Loper and Lindburg then registered back-to-back kills and it was only a two-point deficit (13-15). The Pilots were still within 16-19 after another Lindburg kill, but the Cougars would hold on to take a 2-0 overall lead in the match.
 
The Pilots jumped out to an early lead in the third set with the help of a Maddy Mandon kill that made the score 3-1. Portland continued to control the set from there and Loper made it 8-6 in the Pilots' favor with a kill. BYU then briefly surged ahead, but the Pilots answered with four straight points to re-claim a two-point lead. BYU stayed close, but Portland would still led 15-14 after a kill from Emily Liger. The teams exchanged points from there and the Pilots forced an 18-18 tie courtesy a Sullivan kill. The Cougars then ended the set on a match-clinching 7-3 run.
 
Liger led the way for the Pilots, recording a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs, while Mardesich finished with 20 digs. BYU's Alexa Gray had a match-high 14 kills, 6-foot-7 Jennifer Hamson added 11 and the Cougars combined for 10 blocks on the night. 
 
The Pilots next wrap-up their WCC home schedule on Saturday when the San Diego Toreros visit the Chiles Center for a 1 p.m. match. Portland's season concludes next week with a match at Gonzaga on Tuesday night before the season finale on Friday against non-conference foe Seattle at the Chiles Center.