SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- The Portland Pilots lost a competitive match to the San Diego Toreros on Thursday night, losing in three sets at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Despite multiple Pilot rallies, the Toreros won the match in three sets with scores of 25-19, 25-19, and 25-10.
 
The Pilots (12-3, WCC 0-3) made multiple rallies late in the first two sets, but were unable to overcome the San Diego (6-7, WCC 3-1) attack.
 
Portland junior Shayla Hoeft led the Pilots in kills with eight, while sophomore Liz Reich's seven kills, 308 hitting percentage and two blocks were crucial to the Pilot rallies. Once again, junior Cali Thompson led the team in assists with 26 and had four digs as well.
 
The match begun as a back and forth affair, but thanks to a few impressive digs by sophomore Carey Williams, the Pilots took the lead at 5-4 and went on a 3-0 run to build their lead to 7-4. The Torero's would go on a few 3-0 runs of their own, and extend their lead at one point to 19-12. The Pilots would find their footing late thanks to Shayla Hoeft's four kills during the set, but it would not be enough to complete the comeback, losing the first set 19-25.
 
Wanting to take back momentum, the Pilots came out to a 4-2 run led by early kills from Shayla Hoeft and senior Reghan Pukis. As both teams battled for the lead, a crucial exchange that led to multiple digs was finished off by a kill from Reich that kept the Pilots in the lead at 8-6. The Toreros would bounce back however, and take the lead at 10-9 and further their lead thanks to a 5-0 run to 13-9. Down 13-19, the Pilots were determined to fight their way back into the set, and went on a 4-1 run to make the score 16-20.  A service ace by Katie Barker would tighten the score to 18-22; however the Pilots would fall to the Toreros once again to the score of 25-19.
 
The Toreros would come out for the third set the same way they finished the second, taking the early lead and pushing the score to 10-5. A kill by sophomore Izzy Guzik would halt their run, but San Diego would immediately go on a 5-0 run to make it 15-6. The Toreros would go on to win the final set, 25-10.
 
The Pilots finish their first WCC road trip of the year against No.1 BYU, playing at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday at noon pacific time.