PORTLAND PILOTS (11-3, 1-1 WCC)
at SANTA CLARA BRONCOS (11-4, 2-1 WCC)
Date: Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015
Location: Santa Clara, Calif.
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Arena: Leavey Center
Live Stats: SantaClaraBroncos.com
Live Video: TheW.tv
 
POR vs. SCU
Overall Series: 7-51
Here: 4-24
There: 3-26
Neutral: 0-1
Last: @POR 0, SCU 3, Nov. 8, 2014
 
PORTLAND PILOTS (11-3, 1-1 WCC)
at SAN FRANCISCO DONS (13-3, 0-3 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015
Location: San Francisco, Calif.
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Arena: War Memorial Gym
Live Stats: USFDons.com
Live Video: TheW.tv
 
POR vs. USF
Overall Series: 24-37
Here: 14-14
There: 10-23
Neutral: 0-0
Last: @POR 3, USF 2, Nov. 6, 2014
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots take their first West Coast Conference road trip to the Bay Area to take on the Santa Clara Broncos and the San Francisco Dons.
• First up, the Pilots will take on Santa Clara at the Leavey Center on Thursday night. This will be the 59th meeting between the two schools with the last match falling in favor of the Broncos 3-0 at the Chiles Center.
• Portland will then take on the San Francisco Dons on Saturday afternoon on the Hilltop. Last year Portland's lone WCC win came over the Dons last November in five sets, but San Francisco owns the overall record 37-24.
• Live stats will be available for both of the matches on SantaClaraBroncos.com and USFDons.com, and live stream of the matches can be found on TheW.tv.
 
LAST WEEKEND
• Portland split a pair of matches at home to open up conference 1-1.
• The Pilots beat Saint Mary's 3-0 on Thursday night. This was the first time Portland beat the Bay Area team since 2006.
• On Saturday afternoon, the #23 Pacific Tigers held off a Portland come back to win 3-1. The Tigers fought off Pilot momentum to win the fourth set 25-23 and avoid a fifth tie breaker.
 
OFF TO A HISTORICAL START
• The Pilots had not started the season off 11-2 since 1981 when the program competed at the NAIA level.
• Portland went on a ten match win streak through the middle of non-conference play. This was a feat that had never been accomplished while playing at the D1 level. The last time the Pilots won ten in a row was in 1985.
 
MAKING IT ON THE NATIONAL STAT SCENE
• Emily Liger and Hannah Troutman are 16th and 10th, respectively, in the nation in attacks per set. Liger averages 11.96 while Troutman notches 12.18 a set.
• Liger also appears on the points per set top 50 at the 22nd slot with 4.80 (this is her second year in a row appearing on this list) and the kills per set list with 4.14 at 37th. Troutman's 609 total attacks puts her at 43rd.
• Setting those two up Djurdjina Milovic who is 44th in the nation in assists per set with 10.76.
• As a team, Portland is 18th in digs per set with 16.92, 13th in attacks per set with 37.90, and tied for 38th with a win-loss percentage of .786.
 
WCC STAT COMPARISON
• The Pilots currently lead the WCC in digs per set with 16.92.
• Emily Liger sits at fourth in the conference with her 4.80 kills per set and Hannah Troutman's average kills per set of 3.66 puts her at ninth.
• Setting those two up is Milovic who is fourth in the conference in assists with 10.76 per set.
 
2015 NORTH HARBOUR MARRIOTT CHAMPIONS
• Portland won the 2015 North Harbour Marriott Invitational with wins over St. Francis Brooklyn, Idaho, and Cal Poly.
• The Pilots won the first two matches of the invitational three sets to none, but the win over Cal Poly on Saturday night was a nail biting five sets.
• Emily Liger earned the Offensive MVP award with her 48 kills during the weekend and Morgan Robinson was awarded the Defensive MVP award after being a solid force in the back row for the Pilots. Hannah Troutman was named to the All-Tournament team.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland has five freshman on the roster in Jocelyn Peterson, Lauren Naatz, Katie Barker, and Mikaela Nocetti. Hannah Troutman is in her first year on The Bluff after spending her freshman year at Oregon State.
• The team is still very young with only one senior on the roster in Emily Liger. The junior class is the largest class with five Pilots.
• Head coach Brent Crouch is in his second year at the helm. Joining him in her second year is Nellie Coleman.
• In the final weekend of non-conference play the Pilots won the Fresno State Classic and Lindburg and Markwith earned All-Tournament honors.