Week 8 Notes

PORTLAND PILOTS (10-8, 3-3 WCC)
WEEK 8: vs. BYU / SAN DIEGO
 
No. 11 BYU Cougars (16-2, 5-1 WCC)
Day: Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 PM
Facility: Chiles Center
TV: N/A
Video: TheW.tv
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. BYU
Overall Series: 0-10
H: 0-5 • A: 0-5 • N: 0-0
Last: BYU 3, @POR 1 (11/12/2015)
 
No. 5 San Diego Toreros (15-2, 6-0 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 1:00 PM
Facility: Chiles Center
TV: CSN-NW
Video: TheW.tv
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. USD
Overall Series: 8-50
H: 6-23 • A: 2-27 • N: 0-0
Last: @POR 3, USD 0 (11/14/2015)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots return to the Chiles Center to take on No. 11 BYU and No. 5 San Diego in a pair of West Coast Conference matches.
• The Pilots will first face BYU on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. before playing USD on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. for their second televised match of the year on CSN-NW.
• Both matches will also be streamed live on TheW.tv and live stats can be found on PortlandPilots.com.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots took a trip down to Southern California for the third weekend of conference to face LMU and Pepperdine.
• The Lions topped the Pilots on Thursday night 3-0 before the Pilots traveled to Malibu Saturday afternoon to make an amazing comeback against the Waves.
• Battling through five sets with Pepperdine, the Pilots won three sets in a row after a two-set deficit; the Pilots also rallied from a 20-14 hole during that third set to win the set and eventually the match.
• This is the second road win in a row over the Waves for the Pilots, after defeating Pepperdine for the first time ever in Malibu last year.
• Junior Hannah Troutman led the Pilots in the Pepperdine match with a double-double, recording 17 kills and 28 digs. Sophomore transfer Reghan Pukis finished with 11 kills, while Sarah Savoca added 10. Monica Gajda and Cali Thompson both registered double digits in digs for the match with 26 and 12, respectively. Thompson also had 48 assists on the afternoon.
 
About the Pilots
• The Pilots are currently 11th in the nation and first in the West Coast Conference in total aces (124). They also rank 14th nationally and first in conference in aces per set (1.77).
• Several Pilots are ranked top-five in the WCC in a few different statistical categories.
• Junior Hannah Troutman is ranked first in league for total points (302.0), first in total kills (260), and third in total attacks (725), points per set (4.31), attacks per set (10.35), and kills per set (3.71).
• Though Troutman has also only been with the Pilots a little over a year, she is already leaving her mark in the program's record books. She currently ranks sixth all time in kills per set (3.35), seventh in digs per set (3.20), and 10th in points per set (3.89).
• Freshman Cali Thompson (24) and junior Morgan Robinson (22) rank second and third in the WCC for service aces.
• Thompson is also first in total assists (669), second in assists per set (9.56) and third in conference for aces per set (.34). She too, as a freshman, is already making strides by ranking fifth in Pilot history in assists per set (9.56).
• Senior Katie Sullivan is fourth in the league in total blocks (71). She also ranks fourth all-time at UP in blocks per set (.92), is sixth with 285 career block assists, and is seventh in total blocks (320).
• Opening the 2016 season, the Pilots defeated all three tournament host teams they faced, and outright won the Maroon Classic (Sept. 16-17) in Starkville, Miss. Troutman received All-Tournament Honors at the Bulldog Showdown (Sept. 2-3) and landed tourney MVP at the Maroon Classic. Thompson, Mandon, and Sullivan also received All-Tournament honors at the Maroon Classic, and Gajda was named Best Libero.
• The Pilots are coming off a historical year and returned nine letter winners and five starters this season.
• Head coach Brent Crouch is in his third year at the helm and looks to build upon last year's accomplishments.
• Joining Crouch on the Portland staff are first-year assistant coaches Jeff Baxter and Betsy Sedlak and Rick Moller joining the coaching staff as a volunteer assistant.
• Last season was the program's best ever start to a season (10-1).
• 2015 also marked the most homes wins (10) in program history since competing at the NCAA D1 level.
• Brittney Markwith recorded the second most blocks in a season in program history in 2015 with a total of 119. She also ranks fourth all time at Portland in block assists (295), is eighth in total blocks (318), and is ninth in blocks per set (.82).
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
• BYU swept both Saint Mary's and Pacific at home last weekend.
• The Cougars have three players with triple-digit kills on the season. They are led by freshman McKenna Miller, who has 254 kills, followed by senior Amy Boswell and sophomore Roni Jones-Perry, who have 176 and 121 kills, respectively.  Boswell also leads the team in blocks with 76.
• Heather Olmstead is in her second year as head coach of the Cougars.
• USD also won both their matches last weekend, topping Pacific tin five before sweeping Saint Mary's at home.
• The Toreros have five players with triple digit kills. Redshirt senior Lisa Kramer and senior Lauren Schad lead the squad with 199 and 174 kills. Sophomore Lauren Fuller, redshirt junior Kaity Edwards, and junior Jayden Kennedy also have triple digit kills with 167, 128, and 114, respectively.
• Head coach Jennifer Petrie has been withe Toreros for 17 years, and has been head coach for 12. She has been named league coach of the year four times and she's led USD to the NCAA tournament 10 times.