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WACO, Texas --- Portland senior Emily Liger had a team-high 14 kills and the Pilots rolled to a three-set victory over the Abilene Christian Wildcats in their second match of the Baylor Invitational at the Farrell Center on Saturday. The win marks the first for the Pilots (1-1) under the guidance of first-year head coach Brent Crouch.

Liger added seven digs during the win and sophomore Brittney Markwith and freshman Sarah Savoca contributed 10 and eight kills, respectively. Sophomore setter Djudrjina Milovic had four service aces and 20 assists to help Portland claim the victory.

The first set held even until Liger was able to gain momentum by scoring consecutive kills to put the Pilots up 10-8. From there it was all Portland as the Pilots went on to claim the set 25-16. Liger and Markwith led the Pilots by recording five kills each.

ACU would come out strong in the second set, but a five-point surge started by Savoca in the middle of the set closed the gap between the Pilots and the Wildcats. Later in the set, Portland strung together four straight points to tie the score at 18 all. Neither team was able to claim much of an advantage from there, but Portland eventually prevailed 25-23.

The third set began with freshman Maddy Mandon recording a kill on the assist from Milovic. The Pilots would never relinquish the lead from there set as they would cruise to a match-clinching 25-11 victory. The final point of the match came on a service ace from Milovic.


Portland held ACU to a .146 attack percentage on the match while recording three team blocks and 57 digs.
The win snaps a 28-match losing streak for the Pilots and Portland's last victory came on Nov. 15, 2012, against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The Pilots next conclude their stay in Waco by facing tournament host Baylor tonight at 5 p.m. (Pacific).