SAN FRANCISCO DONS
(8-7, 1-3 WCC)
 
Day: Thursday
Date: Oct. 4, 2018
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 PM
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. USF
Overall Series: 29-37
H: 16-12 •  A: 13-25  •  N: 0-0
Last: @POR 3, SDU 1 (10.28.17)
 
SANTA CLARA BRONCOS
(5-11, 0-4 WCC)
 
Day: Saturday
Date: Oct. 6, 2018
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 12:00 PM
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. SC
Overall Series: 10-54
H: 5-26 •  A: 5-27  •  N: 0-1
Last: SC 3, @POR 0 (10.26.17)

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots return home to the Chiles Center, and take on the San Francisco Dons, and the Santa Clara Broncos.
• Portland will first play San Francisco on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., and finish their weekend against Santa Clara at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.
• Live stats and video for this weekend's match-ups can be found at PortlandPilots.com
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots lost their first WCC road matches of the year, playing against two of the top teams in the conference in San Diego and No. 1 BYU.
• The Toreros topped the Pilots in three sets on Thursday, while Portland played a hard fought match against the No. 1 team in the country, ultimately losing to BYU in three sets.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• First-year head coach Jeff Baxter has led the Pilots to their best start in program history, going a perfect 12-0.
• The 12-match win streak is the longest in program history.
• Thanks to their 9-0 start, the Pilots received four votes in the AVCA Coaches' Poll during week four, marking the first time in program history that the UP volleyball team has received votes.
• The following week, VolleyMob placed the Pilots at No. 27 in the country, while Portland currently sits at No. 11 in VolleyballMag.com's most recent Mid-Major Poll.
• Nationally, the Pilots rank 22nd in hitting percentage (.264).
• Within the WCC, the Pilots are No. 3 in team assists (729) and team kills (766).
• Junior Cali Thompson has had an impressive start to the season, ranking No. 29 in the country in assists per set (10.90) and is No. 35 in total assists (643).
• Thompson now ranks fifth all-time in UP program history with 2,924  career assists.
• Senior Reghan Pukis is No. 8 all-time at Portland in career kills per set (3.24).
• Junior middle blocker Shayla Hoeft was named the initial WCC Player of the Week of 2018, after she helped lead the Pilots to an undefeated opening weekend and the 2018 Aztec Invitational title.
• Hoeft was named the tournament's MVP after the Pilots clinched all three matches. She led the Pilots in kills (38), kills per set (3.8), hitting percentage amongst starters (.457) and tied for the team lead in blocks (10).
• Head Coach Jeff Baxter is not the only coach on the staff with an impressive resume: assistant coach Betsy Sedlak was recently chosen as a UC Davis CAA Hall of Fame inductee, thanks to her role as middle blocker for her alma-mater. She amassed 393 total blocks, good for second all-time, and led the Aggies to their only 20-win seasons of the Division I era.   
• The Pilots returned three of the top four leaders in kills from a year ago, led by senior Reghan Pukis who totaled 367 kills as a junior.
• Cali Thompson registered 1,174 assist last year, which ranks No. 5 on Portland's all-time single-season list.
• Baxter, who was an assistant under former head coach Brent Crouch for the past two seasons, took over the program during the off-season after Crouch was hired as at USC.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
• The Pilots begin their weekend hosting San Francisco, who are 8-7 (1-3 WCC) on the year.
• They were selected to place tenth in conference, according to the WCC Coaches Preseason Poll.
• Within the WCC, USF leads the conference in team digs (865) and are second in team attacks per set (35.76).
• The Dons are led by junior Kathya Garcia, who leads the team in kills (154), kills per set (3.02) and is second in digs (159).
• The Pilots finish their homestead against Santa Clara, who are 5-11 (0-3 WCC) so far this season
• Santa Clara was selected to place sixth in the WCC, according to the WCC Coaches Preseason Poll.
• Within our conference, The Broncos are first in digs per set (15.71).    
• They're led by freshman Michelle Staffer, who leads the team in kills (146), kills per set (2.65), and is second in digs (168).