PORTLAND, Ore.---Junior outside hitter Jayde Harris registered a career high 19 kills against Loyola Marymount, and the Pilots stole set one, but the Lions would come out on top 3-1 in a West Coast Conference volleyball match at the Chiles Center on Thursday evening. LMU claimed the match with set scores of 17-25, 25-17, 25-15, and 25-17.
 
Harris converted her scores on 31 total attempts to end with a stunning .516 attack percentage on the night, adding two service aces for the Pilots. Noelani Helm dished out 19 assists, Grace Zilbert came up with six digs, and Charity Bradley contributed four blocks for the team in white.
 
Portland (5-13, 2-7 WCC) got off to a hot start to open the match, producing a 6-0 run early on—including kills from Harris and Helm, and an ace off the hand of Bradley—to push the Pilots in front of LMU 7-3. The Lions (15-4, 6-3 WCC) rallied back to tie it at 7-all, but an attack from Chelsey Harmon soon swung the score back in Portland's favor to grant the home side a two-point edge. LMU managed to regain the lead at 11-10, but that's when the Pilots put together another solid run, using kills from Jiana Lawson and Emma Swett to retake the score at 15-11. Portland managed that cushion through the end of the frame, and Harris closed out the set with a kill and her two aces to give the Pilots the 1-0 lead overall heading into the second frame.
 
The Pilots jumped out in front again to begin set two, with two more Harris attacks and another from Harmon setting the score at 7-1. LMU came back to draw the game at both 8s and 9s, eventually finding their first lead soon after. Portland got back within two off of a Lawson service ace at 13-15, but the Lions would hold on to level the match 1-1.
 
Set three began evenly matched, with both sides trading points, until a couple of Lions runs in the middle created a sizeable gap which they maintained until the end of the frame.
 
Set four began much the same, and the teams went back and forth, tying eight times before LMU found the first three-point spread at 15-12. Back-to-back Harris kills kept the Pilots in range, and the Murrieta native converted twice more to bring the Pilots within one on two different occasions. But the Lions would handle Portland's pressure well, sealing the set on a 4-0 run to close out the game.
 
"We played hard tonight and competed," said head coach Megan Burton. "We worked on cleaning up our offense this week and it showed tonight. I thought our attackers did a good job at taking mindful swings and making LMU play volleyball."
 
"That's the fastest offense we've seen all year and it took our defense a while to respond," said Burton. "We're a young squad and we have moments of very high level volleyball on our side of the net. Our squad competed tonight and we continue to get better with every opportunity. We'll bounce back and get ready for Pepperdine this weekend."
 
The Pilots welcome #25 Pepperdine to the Chiles Center on Saturday, October 23rd for the team's Dig Pink event. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the match in honor of breast cancer awareness month, and a link to make donations to the Susan G. Komen foundation on behalf of the Portland volleyball program is available now. The Pilots' contest with the Waves is set to begin at 12 p.m.