PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots won a five-set thriller in the Chiles Center in the first of two West Coast Conference volleyball matches against San Francisco this week, coming back after being down twice to give them their first victory of the year, and Megan Burton's first as head coach of the program. The Pilots secured the Dons defeat with set scores of 23-25, 27-25, 15-25, 25-8, and 15-12 on Thursday afternoon.
 
Sophomore Jayde Harris led the way for the Pilots with 14 kills, and senior Carey Williams held down Portland's defense with 28 digs. Sophomore setter Noelani Helm had a huge game and recorded her first double-double this season with 22 assists and 19 digs.
 
Portland (1-6, 1-6 WCC) built an early lead to begin set one, including an 8-0 run that put the score at 11-4 before San Francisco (4-3, 4-3 WCC) slowly climbed their way back in it and took their first lead late in the set at 22-21. The Dons eventually secured the win to go ahead 1-0 on the match.
 
USF used some of that momentum to start the second set, when the Pilots found themselves down by as many as five. That was when Harris found the hot hand to provide three scores for Portland, and Helm served up an ace to help bring the Pilots even at 11-11. The set would stay even through the middle as both teams traded kills, until the Pilots used a 4-0 run with points from Claire Forrest and Harris, as well as an ace from Williams to give the home side the two-point swing and force San Francisco to call timeout. Freshman Nevaeh Bray scored for the Pilots coming out of the break, but the Dons would tie it once more at 23-23. Both teams had set-point opportunities from there, and the Pilots would rally back in dramatic fashion after a block from Forrest and Mia Wesley gave Portland their second shot at the set win. Wesley would send one deep behind the Dons' back line to seal the set for the Pilots and level the match at 1-1.
 
The Pilots would have to come back once more as San Francisco went ahead 2-1 after three sets, but the fourth was dominated by the team in white. Prompted by a 4-0 lead to open the set, the Pilots jumped ahead 11-4, and Harris scored twice by providing a kill and an ace to extend the lead to nine. Moments later, an 8-0 Pilots run—including another Forrest kill and a service ace from Williams—would pretty much ensure the win for Portland. Liz Reich added a crucial kill and Kellie Hughes provided another ace before Wesley hit one down the line, and Portland held San Francisco to single digits in the set to cruise to the 25-8 win.
 
The deciding set was closely contested as both sides exchanged points for four different ties, until attacks from Bray and Wesley gave the Pilots a slim 8-6 edge. A Forrest score would preserve the Pilots lead soon after, although the Dons would manage a 3-0 run to give them a one-point edge at 11-10. Back-to-back scores from Helm would give the lead back to the Pilots, and two San Francisco offensive errors produced the home team's first opportunity at match point. Helm then capped off her massive match with a block assisted by Bray to close out the game and hand the Pilots a hard-fought victory.

"I'm so proud of our team finishing the match and earning the win today!" said Burton. "It feels great to see us put together all the things we've been working on these past weeks of practice. We took care of our side of the net tonight, controlling the serve and pass game and running our offense on all cylinders. This was a full team effort to finish the five set battle. Noelani Helm stepped up today coming away with some huge plays for us as a front row player. We will enjoy this win today and continue to learn and get better. USF is a good team and we expect them to come back tomorrow ready to compete. Looking forward another awesome match tomorrow. Go Pilots!"

A rematch of today's game will occur tomorrow, as the Pilots and San Francisco battle it out again in the Chiles Center starting at 12:00pm.