Portland Pilots (4-11, 1-5 WCC)
vs. Santa Clara and San Francisco
 
Santa Clara Broncos (5-11, 1-5 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Oct. 14, 2021
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Facility: Chiles Center
Stats: portlandpilots.com
Video: portlandpilots.com
 
POR vs. SCU
Overall Series: 13-57
H: 6-27 • A: 7-29 • N: 0-1
Last: POR 0, @SCU 3 (10.9.21)
 
San Francisco Dons (0-14, 0-6 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Oct. 16, 2021
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Facility: Chiles Center
Stats: portlandpilots.com
Video: portlandpilots.com
 
POR vs. USF
Overall Series: 33-39
H: 18-14 • A: 15-25 • N: 0-0
Last: USF 3, POR 2 (2.19.21)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots are back at home for two West Coast Conference matches against Santa Clara and San Francisco.
• Portland will first host a meeting with the Broncos on Thursday, October 14, at 6 p.m..
• The Pilots will then welcome the Dons to the Chiles Center on Saturday, October 16 at 12 p.m.
• Live stats and live video for both matches will be available at PortlandPilots.com, and the Pilots' match against San Francisco on Saturday afternoon will also be televised on Portland's CW Network.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots were on the road for two matchups with ranked opponents.
• Jayde Harris collected a match-high 11 kills against No. 25 San Diego, but the Toreros overcame the Pilots 3-0 at Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday, October 9.
• Ninth-ranked BYU topped the Pilots 3-0 in Provo back on Thursday, October 7.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Megan Burton enters her second year as the head coach of the Pilots volleyball program, with assistant coaches Aven Lee and Dylan Hamilton also returning for the 2021 season.
• The Pilots also bring back seven letter winners from the spring 2021 West Coast Conference season.
• The program welcomes four true freshmen to The Bluff this fall in Alyssa Muraoka, Gabby Quach, Emma Swett, and Keilani Mumolo.
• Portland has also added two graduate students to their roster, including outside hitter Charity Bradley out of Washington State and setter Paloma Bowman from UC Davis.
• The Pilots saw three significant contributors graduate at the end of last year in setter Kellie Hughes, All-WCC outside hitter Liz Reich, and second-place all-time career digs leader Carey Williams.
• Portland will look to outside hitter Jayde Harris to provide the attack this season, and she has been the team's most productive scorer so far, leading the team with 151 kills while averaging 2.96 per set.
• Through 15 matches the team has produced averages of 10.47 kills per set, 9.63 assists per set, and 11.76 digs per set.
• Noelani Helm leads the Pilots in assists with 241, and is second on the team in kills with 73.
• Grace Zibert is Portland's team leader in digs, with 150 to her credit.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• Santa Clara competed in just one match last week, collecting a sweep over San Francisco on Saturday for their first win in conference play.
• Kat Georrgiadis ranks first in the WCC in digs per set, averaging 4.31. She leads the Broncos in total digs on the year with 263, which is good for second in the conference in the category.
• Julia Sangiacomo is SCU's kills leader with 214 this fall, which currently ranks fourth-highest in the league.
• Nive Tuileta has accumulated 590 assists already this fall for Santa Clara, and is fourth in the conference in assists per set, generating 9.67.
• San Francisco is so far winless in 2021, coming closest to wins in five-set matches against Sac State (Aug. 28) and UC San Diego (Sept. 17)
• Orsula Staka enters the week with the fourth-highest hitting percentage in the West Coast Conference at .364, and the middle blocker leads the Dons in blocks this season with 28.
• Shyia Richardson is USF's team leader in kills with 131.
• Aylen Ayub is first for San Francisco in assists with 250, dishing out an average of 5.21 per set.
• Letizia Aquilino has come up with the majority of the Dons' digs with 162, nabbing 3.45 per set.