SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. --- The Portland Pilots opened their first road match of conference, battling San Francisco through five sets on Thursday night in the War Memorial Gym. Despite starting the match ahead 1-0, Portland made a comeback to win the fourth and fifth set, with scores of 25-14, 25-27, 22-25, 25-23, and 16-14.

Portland (11-4, 2-1) opened up the first set with a 6-2 run, before USF (3-14, 0-4) added a pair of kills to keep the Dons within three. The Pilots produced two more sizeable runs to surge forward to 17-8 led by kills from freshman Emily DeMots, junior Reghan Pukis, and an ace from sophomore Cali Thompson. After Portland claimed the next five points, USF attempted to hold the Pilots from the final point, but senior Hannah Troutman sealed the set at 25-14 with the last kill.

The Dons responded with energy to claim the next two sets. San Francisco pushed the second set into extra points to complete a late comeback and take their first set of the match 27-25. USF then kept their momentum in the third set to win the close set 25-22 and take the lead 2-1.

Even in the fourth set at 6-6, sophomore Katie Barker and Troutman combined for two kills and an ace to take the lead at 10-7. Though Portland held a three-point lead the majority of the set, the Dons climbed back into the set to come within one of Portland. The Pilots continued to push forward ahead 23-20 with back-to-back kills from Pukis and held on to the last two points to even the match 2-2, winning the fourth set 25-23.

In the final set, Troutman produced three kills in a row to take the initial lead for the Pilots at 7-5. Pukis added two more kills before the Dons pushed back to move forward 13-11. With the Dons at set point, Barker came up big with a solo block to allow Troutman to tie the set with a kill. Troutman added on more kill to lead the Pilots to win the final point and take the set 16-14.

Troutman recorded a double-double and career high of 28 kills and 25 digs, breaking her previous high of 20 kills and 21 digs against Pacific last weekend. Pukis and Savoca also registered double digit kills with 14 and 13, respectively. Senior Morgan Robinson had 22 digs, and freshman Carey Williams notched 17 digs. Sophomore Cali Thompson produced 49 assists and 12 digs.

The Pilots will be back in action Saturday at 1 p.m., in the Leavey Center, taking on Santa Clara in their final match of their first road weekend.