PACIFIC TIGERS
(6-11, 1-5 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Oct. 11, 2018
Place: Stockton, Calif.
Time: 7:00 PM
Facility: Alex G. Spanos Center
Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. PAC
Overall Series: 1-11
H: 1-4 •  A: 0-6  •  N: 0-1
Last: @PAC 3, POR 0 (11.18.17)
 
SAINT MARY'S GAELS
(11-5, 3-3 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Oct. 13, 2018
Place: Moraga, Calif.
Time: 12:00 PM
Facility: McKeon Pavilion
Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. SMC
Overall Series: 26-40
H: 15-18 •  A: 11-22  •  N: 0-0
Last: POR 3, @SMC 1 (11.16.17)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots return to the road, playing against the Pacific Tigers and the Saint Mary's Gaels.
• Portland will first play Pacific on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., and finish their weekend seeking their seventh straight win over Saint Mary's 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 first two WCC matches of the year, sweeping both San Francisco and Santa Clara in the Chiles Center.
• The Pilots dominated thanks to their stellar defense: junior Katie Barker had 11 total blocks during the weekend, while sophomore libero Carey Williams regularly making the difficult appear routine, having 34 digs.
• Senior Reghan Pukis led the way offensively, with 16 kills against the Dons and 11 vs. the Broncos.
 
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. 12 in VolleyballMag.com's most recent Mid-Major Poll.
• Nationally, the Pilots rank 22nd in hitting percentage (.263).
• Within the WCC, the Pilots are No. 3 in team assists (800), team kills (844), team service aces (99) and team total blocks (134.5).
• Junior Cali Thompson has had an impressive 2018 campaign, ranking No. 29 in the country in assists per set (10.83) and is No. 36 in total assists (704).
• Thompson now ranks fifth all-time in UP program history with 3,036 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 playing against Pacific, who are 6-11 (1-5 WCC) on the year.
• They were selected to place ninth in conference, according to the WCC Coaches Preseason Poll.
• Within the WCC, the Tigers leads the conference in team attacks (2,386) and are led by sophomore Kaitlyn Lines, who is No. 1 in the WCC in total points (296.5), total attacks (664) and total kills (261).
• The Pilots finish their road trip against Saint Mary's, who are 11-5 (3-3) so far this season
• Santa Clara was selected to place seventh in the WCC, according to the WCC Coaches Preseason Poll.
• Within our conference, The Gaels are first in aces per set (1.72) and Alexsa "Crash" Parker leads the WCC in assists per set (0.49) and total assists (32). Nationally, she ranks 17th and 13th in assists per set and total assists, respectively.