San Diego, Calif.---The Portland Pilots stole a set from No. 20 San Diego, but the Toreros would find the 3-1 win in a West Coast Conference volleyball match on Wednesday afternoon at Jenny Craig Pavilion. The Toreros claimed the match with set scores of 25-15, 28-30, 25-14, and 25-14.
 
Freshman Mia Wesley led the Pilots offense once more with her 12 kills, while Jayde Harris added nine, and setters Noelani Helm and Kellie Hughes provided a total 36 assists in the match. Carey Williams finished with 20 digs for Portland's defense.
 
The first set started even as a Lawson kill tied the game at 2-2, but soon after that San Diego managed to create a three-point lead. Senior Claire Forrest would answer back for Portland with two kills to keep the Pilots within range, and a 3-0 Pilots run would soon level the score once more at 9-9. Attacks from Lawson and Liz Reich would keep the pressure on USD until the Toreros jumped ahead with a 8-1 scoring run that would carry them to close out set one.
 
The Toreros built another slight edge over the Pilots to begin set number two, but a Harris kill and a Forrest solo block would close the gap back down to one. The Pilots produced a 4-0 scoring run to give them their first lead in the set at 8-7, which included two kills from Reich. Back-to-back kills from Wesley would put the Pilots in front by three shortly after, although the Toreros would come back to tie the set at 12s. Moments later, freshman Nevaeh Bray dished out two aces that would put Portland up again and force San Diego to call timeout.
 
The Toreros would climb their way back into match to go ahead by one out of the break, but with a Helm ace and Reich kill Portland would take the lead once more. The set would remain close all the way down the wire, and San Diego had their first chance at a set point, ahead by three. Two USD attack errors and a block from Harris and Bray then gave the Pilots their first set point opportunity, and each team would have another chance to close out the set before kills from Reich and Wesley sealed the win for the Pilots.
 
The third and fourth sets were controlled by San Diego as the #20 Toreros finished out the game with set scores of 25-14 to hand them the win.
 
"It was a battle tonight," said head coach Megan Burton. "I'm proud of our team and the changes they made in less than 24 hours heading into the match. This is a tough road trip and our squad has done a fantastic job prepping to perform at our best."
 
"San Diego is a veteran team and they were able to play better volleyball for longer periods of time tonight. We're still working on the consistency in our game. We need to win the serve and pass battle over time, and we showed in set two what we are capable of when we do those things. We'll rest up tonight and I'm confident we'll return ready to battle again tomorrow."
 
 The Pilots are back in action against San Diego tomorrow, and the match is set to begin at 4:00pm.