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OREM, Utah --- The Portland Pilots beat UC Riverside in five sets in the first match of the La Quinta Inn and Suites Invitational at the UCCU Center on the Utah Valley campus. Senior Emily Liger (17 kills, 23 digs) and sophomore Makayla Lindburg (18 kills, 11 digs) both record double-doubles en route to the victory.
 
Down 2-1 at one point, Portland (5-4) rallied to claim the match over UC Riverside (2-8) with scores of 25-12, 22-25, 29-31, 25-21, and 15-9.
 
Portland used a late run to overcome UC Riverside in the first set 25-12. The Pilots and the Highlanders were tied early in the set, but the Pilots went ahead 6-5 off of a kill by Liger and took control of the set. A kill by Lindburg to make the score 14-9 sent the Pilots on a 12-3 scoring binge. Liger capped off the run with a kill to give Portland the 25^th point and the set win. Liger led the Pilots with four kills during the game.
 
The Pilots came out strong in the second set, but were overcome late as the Highlanders won 25-22. Portland took advantage of three UC Riverside errors and a Liger kill to take the lead 4-0. The Highlanders came back to tie the set at 9-9 and then take the lead 11-9. Portland utilized a timeout and Sullivan earned the next point and gave the Pilots the momentum to take the lead 12-11. The Pilots and the Highlanders were then point-for-point until a pair of kills by UC Riverside's Ashley Cox gave the Highlanders the late lead with the score 20-18. From there, UC Riverside held off Portland to take the set, and the Pilots were once again led by Liger, who had five kills on the set.
 
The Highlanders needed extra points to take the third set 31-29. The set was close with less than three points separating the two teams for the majority of the set. Portland held off four potential set-points for UC Riverside on kills by Lindburg and freshman Sarah Savoca and a pair of Highlander errors. A service ace by Cox earned the set point for UC Riverside. Lindburg had six more kills as she led the Pilots on the set.
 
The Pilots refused to falter and responded by tying the match 2-2 with a third set score of 25-21. The only time the Pilots did not lead the set was when UC Riverside led 1-0. Portland had seven team blocks during this set alone and held UC Riverside to an attacking percentage of .043. Lindburg led the Pilots on the set with five kills, while Sullivan contributed three and had an attacking percentage of .500.

 
Portland completed the comeback by winning the fifth set 15-9. Sophomore Djurdjina Milovic began the scoring for the Pilots with a service ace to earn the first point of the set. Similar to the fourth set, Portland had control of the game and a kill by Liger on the final point gave the Pilots the set and match victory.
 
Portland had 21 total team blocks and Sullivan recorded a career high 10 kills on the match.
 
The Pilots are in action again Saturday morning when they take on Idaho State at 9:00 a.m. (Pacific).