PROVO, UTAH --- The Portland Pilots battled No.1 BYU on Saturday afternoon, finishing their first WCC road trip of the season at the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars maintained their undefeated record on the season with a three set victory over the Pilots with set scores of 25-14, 25-15, and 25-18.
 
BYU (14-0, 4-0 WCC) played at their best, showing why they're the No. 1 ranked team in the country according to the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Pilots (12-4, WCC 0-4) fought hard throughout the match, continually gave the Cougars a worthy challenge.

"I'm proud of the way we played fearless on offense and defense against a very good BYU team," head coach Jeff Baxter said after the match about the Pilots performance. "We're looking forward to getting back in the gym with our team on Monday." 
 
The Cougars would come out of the gate strong, going on a few 3-0 runs to take the lead and extend it to 6-3. Kills by senior Reghan Pukis and junior Katie Barker would cut the early lead to 5-7, but would immediately be followed by a 6-0 Cougar run. Late kills by Pukis and junior Shayla Hoeft would put a halt to the Cougars run, but wouldn't be enough to stop them from taking the first set, with BYU winning it 25-14.
 
Determined to come out strong, Pukis began the second set with two straight kills to give the Pilots the initial lead. The Cougars would reclaim the lead and would extend it to 10-5, though a pair of attacking errors would cut their lead to 10-7. Working past their errors, the Cougars went on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 16-7. The Pilots wouldn't go without a fight however, going on a 6-2 run late in the set to make the score 23-15, but would ultimately lose the second set to the Cougars at 25-15.
 
The Pilots would once again come out to begin the set battling for the lead, and would make multiple 3-0 runs led by Pukis and Barker, whom had five and four kills respectively in the third to keep the Pilots in the set. The Cougars would have a few runs of their own, and despite the Pilots playing their best volleyball in the third set, it would be their final set of the day as BYU would complete the sweep, winning the set 25-18.

Pukis led the Pilots in kills with 11, while Barker would grab eight kills and two blocks. Junior Cali Thompson would continue to rack up assists, recording 25 and grabbing six digs. 
 
Next weekend, the Pilots return to the Chiles Center for matches against San Francisco (8-7, 1-3 WCC) on Thursday on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. (Pacific), and Santa Clara (5-10, 0-3) on Oct. 6 at noon (PT).