PEPPERDINE WAVES
(6-4, 0-0 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Sept. 20, 2018
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 PM
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. PEPP
Overall Series: 6-56
H: 4-27 •  A: 2-29  •  N: 0-0
Last: PEPP 3, POR 0 (11.02.17 @ PEPP)
 
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT LIONS
(10-1, 0-0 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Sept. 22, 2018
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 12:00 PM
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: PortlandPilots.com
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
 
POR vs. LMU
Overall Series: 10-53
H: 8-24 •  A: 2-30  •  N: 0-1
Last: LMU 3, POR 2 (11.04.17 @ LMU)
 
THIS WEEK
• It's West Coast Conference opening weekend presented by Oxford Suites as the Pilots host Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount at the Chiles Center.
• Portland will first play Pepperdine on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., and finish their weekend against LMU at noon on Saturday.
• Live stats and video for this weekend's match-ups can be found at PortlandPilots.com
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots remained undefeated, now 12-0 this season, as they swept the competition at the Boise State Classic.
• Portland defeated Sacramento State, Boise State and CSUN to claim the Boise State Classic championship.
• Junior Cali Thompson was awarded the Boise State Classic MVP award, while senior Reghan Pukis and junior Shayla Hoeft were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
• Thompson won the Most Valuable Player award thanks to her dominant stat line: she led the Pilots in assists (128), and was second in digs (28).
• Pukis and Hoeft were right behind Thompson as Pukis led the Pilots in kills with 44, while Hoeft had 38 kills and nine blocks.
• The Pilots had numerous contributions at the Classic: sophomore Izzy Guzik had 31 kills and 26 digs, redshirt-junior Katie Barker had 23 kills, 17 blocks and seven digs, and sophomore Liz Reich had 11 kills and 13 blocks.
• The Pilots were led defensively by sophomore libero Carey Williams and Lauren Naatz: Williams had 49 digs, while Naatz had 22 coming off the bench.
 
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; it's believed to be the best start for a first-year NCAA DI head coach since Chuck Erbe went 24-0 at USC in 1976.
• The Pilots are one of six undefeated teams left in the country.
• The 12 straight wins are the most in a row in program history
• Last week the Pilots received votes in the AVCA Coaches' Poll for the first time ever, and this week Portland sits just outside the Top-25, coming in at No. 32.
• VolleyMob places the Pilots at No. 26 in the country, while Portland sits at No. 6 in VolleyballMag.com's Mid-Major Poll.
• Nationally, the Pilots rank seventh in hitting percentage (.297) and are 30th in assists per set (13.13).
• Within the West Coast Conference, the Pilots are third in team kills (621), digs (659) and assists (591), and they are first in total team blocks with 97.5.
• Cali Thompson is first in the WCC in total assists (523), and Katie Barker is first in total blocks (57).
• Thompson now ranks fifth all-time in UP program history with 2,855 career assists.
• Thompson is also No. 9 in the country in assists per set (11.62) and is No. 16 in overall assists (523).
• Pukis is No. 8 all-time at Portland in career kills per set (3.27).
• 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 fourth straight undefeated weekend kept them tied for first with BYU in the conference rankings.
• 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 will begin their WCC play against Pepperdine, who are 6-4 on the season. Pepperdine was selected to place fourth in the WCC standings in the WCC preseason poll.
• They rank 10th in the nation in assists per set (13.53), and 12th in kills per set (14.35).
• They are led by sophomore Shannon Scully, who is first on her team in points per set (4.00), kills (114), kills per set (3.45) and is second in digs (91).
• LMU is 10-1 on the season, and were selected to place third in the WCC in the preseason poll. 
• LMU is second in the country in assists per set (15.05), hitting percentage (0.315) and kills per set (15.93). They're also sixth in the country in aces per set (2.03). Within the WCC, they're first in assists per set, kills per set, hitting percentage and aces per set.
• LMU is led by junior Tess Reid, who ranks first in the nation in assists per set (12.98) and 18th in total assists (519). She was WCC Player of the Week in week 3, having dished out 135 assists at a rate of 13.50 per set, leading the Lions to an undefeated weekend against Auburn, American and Kansas.