NO. 1 BYU COUGARS
(20-0, 10-0 WCC)
 
Day: Thursday
Date: Oct. 25, 2018
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 PM
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. BYU
Overall Series: 1-14
H: 1-6 • A: 0-8 • N: 0-0
Last: @BYU 3, POR 0 (09.29.18)
 
SAN DIEGO TOREROS
(11-9, 8-2 WCC)
 
Day: Saturday
Date: Oct. 27, 2018
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 12:00 PM
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. USD
Overall Series: 9-54
H: 6-25 • A: 3-23 • N: 0-0
Last: @SDU 3, POR 0 (09.27.18)
 
THIS WEEK
• After two weeks on the road, the Pilots return home to host the upper echelon of the WCC: No. 1 BYU and San Diego.
• Portland will first play BYU on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., and finish their weekend against San Diego 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 won their only match over the weekend, sweeping Gonzaga in Spokane to acquire their 10th sweep of the season.
• Junior Katie Barker continued her impressive run of play, leading the Pilots in points (16), kills (11), service aces (3), and blocks (3).
• Sophomore Izzy Guzik's double-double, having 10 kills and 10 digs, kept the Pilots in the lead throughout their match.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• First-year head coach Jeff Baxter led the Pilots to their best start in program history, going a perfect 12-0.
• The 12-match winning streak was the longest in program history.
• Thanks to their 9-0 start, the Pilots received four votes in the NCAA 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. 14 in VolleyballMag.com's most recent Mid-Major Poll.
• Nationally, the Pilots rank 17th in hitting percentage (.269).
• Within the WCC, the Pilots are second in digs per set (14.49), and third in team assists (946) and team kills (997).
• Junior Cali Thompson has had an impressive 2018 campaign, ranking No. 27 in the country in assists per set (11.07) and is No. 56 in total assists (830).
• Thompson now ranks fifth all-time in UP program history with 3,162 career assists.
• Senior Reghan Pukis is No. 8 all-time at Portland in career kills per set (3.25).
• 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 the top team in the country, No. 1 BYU, who have yet to be defeated (20-0, 10-0).
• They were selected to place first in conference, by the WCC Coaches Preseason Poll.
• BYU is 1st in the WCC in hitting percentage (.328), opp. hitting percentage (.136), team total blocks (178.0), blocks per set (2.74) and are 2nd in kills per set (14.12), .
• The Cougars are led by senior's Roni Jones-Perry and Lyndie Haddock-Eppich: Jones-Perry is 1st in the WCC in points per set (5.29), aces per set (0.48) and kills per set (4.48), while Haddock-Eppich is 4th in the WCC in assists per set (10.94) and total assists (711).  Jones-Perry has been awarded the WCC player of the week award three times this season, while Haddock-Eppich has won the award twice so far.
• The Pilots finish their homestead against San Diego, who are 11-9 (8-2) this season and recieved three votes in the latest AVCA Coaches' Poll .
• San Diego was selected to place second in the WCC, by the WCC Coaches Preseason Poll.
• Within the WCC, the Toreros are second in blocks per set (2.27) and senior Addie Picha has been crucial to their success: nationally, she ranks 1st in blocks per set (1.54) and total blocks (109) and is 2nd in hitting percentage (0.423).