PORTLAND, Ore.---The Portland Pilots volleyball squad returned home to sweep the Corban Warriors 3-0 at the Chiles Center in their final exhibition match ahead of the 2021 regular season. The set scores were 25-21, 25-19, and 30-28 in Portland's favor.
 
Portland freshman Jiana Lawson and sophomore Jayde Harris tied for a team high with 11 kills in the match. Freshman middle blocker Nevaeh Bray also chipped in with 10 kills and five blocks on the way to the win.
 
After Corban jumped out to an early 5-1 lead at the start of the first set, the Pilots surged back to win it 25-21. Bray sparked the comeback with a few kills, and a handful of errors by Corban brought Pilots within two, at 9-11. Portland was then able to tie the score at 13, before both sides exchanged points. A block from senior Liz Reich and Bray then put the Pilots ahead 18-17. The Pilots were ahead 21-19 moments later, and two kills from Lawson and another by Mia Wesley closed out the set for Portland.
 
Portland and Corban exchanged points to start the second set, before back-to-back scores from Wesley sparked a five-point run to put the Pilots ahead at 18-13. The lead grew to as many as six points before Portland claimed a 2-0 lead overall.

The third set was close throughout, and after service aces from both Carey Williams and Noelani Helm and a kill by Reich, the Pilots were ahead 9-4. A short time later Corban put together a 9-1 scoring run of their own to go jump in front by three. The Pilots refused to falter. And the end of the match saw several lead changes and multiple set point opportunities from both sides before Portland sealed the win with a kill from Bray.

Senior Carey Williams lead the Pilots in digs with 13, while setters Helm and Kellie Hughes added the assists at 23 and 20, respectively.

"It was great to see our team compete on their home court. It's been over a year since we've been able to play a home volleyball match in Chiles, and it felt so good to be back," said head coach Megan Burton. "We're grateful to all the UP staff, the referees, and Corban University for making today's exhibition match a great success. Corban put up a great fight and is a very talented team. They pushed us and we responded well, displaying fight especially to close out the third set. We're still finding our rhythm on the court and our team chemistry. There's a lot of new faces out there and it takes time to build those on-court connections. But we served tough and got our middle offense going today. We'll continue to get better in practice and we're excited to start conference play next week!" 

The Pilots are back at home to open WCC play against BYU at 12 p.m. on Tuesday.