PORTLAD, Ore. – The University of Portland's volleyball program has announced their schedule for the 2021 season. The Pilots will face four teams who made the NCAA tournament this past season.
"We've put together a solid schedule for our Pilots this fall," Pilots head coach Megan Burton said. "I'm excited for to push ourselves in the pre-season against a bunch of solid squads that are competitive in the Big Sky, Mountain West, WAC and Pac-12. We will be battling on the road all four weekends to start out the season. We're heading to great tournaments at Idaho, Montana State, Portland State and University of Washington. This pre-season schedule will allow us to get a taste of tough competition before we begin West Coast Conference play. Every year it's exciting to get a chance to compete in an elite conference like the WCC and I'm looking forward to building off our 2021 spring season. We learned a ton in the spring and are coming back better and stronger. Every match in the WCC is a battle and that's the way we like it. Hopefully we'll be able to have fans at home matches and welcome back our awesome Pilot Community to the Chiles center. Go Pilots!"
The Pilots will start the regular season at the University of Idaho Tournament. They'll play the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Idaho Vandals on Aug. 27 before finishing the tournament off against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Aug. 28.
Portland will then head to Bozeman, Mont. for the Montana State Bobcat Invitational. They'll play two matches on Friday, Sep. 3 – one against the Utah State Aggies and another against Montana State themselves – before facing off against the Arkansas Razorbacks on Sept. 4 to end the weekend tournament.
The Pilots will get to stay in Portland for their next tourney, heading across town to Viking Pavilion for the Portland State Tournament. They'll play the Portland State Vikings to open the competition on Thursday, Sept. 9, followed by a matchup against the UTEP Miners on Sept. 10. They will go head-to-head against Grand Canyon University on Sunday, Sept. 11 to finish off the tournament.
Portland will then head up to Seattle for the University of Washington Tournament from Sept. 16-17. During this tournament, they'll play the Fresno State Bulldogs on Sept. 16 and the Washington Huskies on Sept. 17. The Huskies were an elite program last season, making the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament before losing to the eventual championship victors, the Kentucky Wildcats.
The Pilots will finally start West Coast Conference play on Saturday, Sept. 25. That day, they'll be at the Chiles Center for their home opener against Gonzaga University.
The following week they'll play two WCC matches, with one of those on the road and the other two at home. They'll head to Malibu, Calif. on Tuesday, Sept. 28 to face off against the Pepperdine Waves, one of the top teams in the conference. Pepperdine made the NCAA Tournament last season and has made a whopping 29 appearances in the postseason. They'll be back at the Chiles Center for their next two matches, playing the Pacific Tigers on Thursday, Sept. 30 and the Saint Mary's Gaels on Saturday, Oct. 2.
The Pilots will be back on the road against two WCC powerhouses the following week. They'll play the BYU Cougars in Provo, Utah on Thursday, Oct. 7 before heading to San Diego for a matchup against the USD Toreros on Saturday, Oct. 9. Both teams made the NCAA Tournament last season and are consistently contenders for the top spot in the WCC.
After that brief road trip, the Pilots will have a four-game homestand over the course of two weeks. The first week they will play host to the Santa Clara (Oct. 14) and San Francisco Dons (Oct. 16). The following week they'll have a home match against the Loyola Marymount Lions (Oct. 21) and a rematch against the Pepperdine Waves (Oct. 23).
Portland will hit the road for their next two matches after that. On Thursday, Oct. 28 they'll head to Moraga, Calif. for their away match against Saint Mary's. They will then travel to Stockton, Calif. for their rematch against Pacific on Oct. 30.
The Pilots will play their final two home games of the season the following week. They'll start things off with their Thursday match against San Diego on Nov. 4 before playing their home finale against BYU on Saturday, Nov. 6.
The final four games of the Pilots' regular season schedule will take place on the road. Portland starts the road schedule off with a match in San Francisco against the Dons on Thursday, Nov. 11 and finish off that week with a road match against Santa Clara on Saturday, Nov. 13. Their final week of matches will see the Pilots play Gonzaga in Spokane on Saturday, Nov. 20 and Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Nov. 23 for their regular season finale.
Stay tuned for information regarding volleyball season tickets, group packages and youth team experiences. For more ticket information, visit
PortlandPilots.com or call Dave Taylor at (503) 943-8619 or taylord@up.edu.
2021 Portland Volleyball Schedule
Aug. 27 vs. Nevada, 10:30 AM*
Aug. 27 at Idaho, 4:30 PM*
Aug. 28 vs. Eastern Washington, 12:30 PM*
Sept. 3 vs. Utah State, 10 AM^
Sept. 3 at Montana State, 7 PM^
Sept. 4 vs. Arkansas, 10 AM^
Sept. 9 at Portland State, 7 PM #
Sept. 10 vs. UTEP, 3:30 PM #
Sept. 11 vs. GCU, 10 AM #
Sept. 16 vs. Fresno State, TBA +
Sept. 17 at Washington, 6 PM +
Sept. 25 vs. Gonzaga, 12 PM
Sept. 28 at Pepperdine, 7 PM
Sept. 30 vs. Pacific, 12 PM
Oct. 2 vs. Saint Mary's, 12 PM
Oct. 7 at BYU, 7 PM
Oct. 9 at San Diego, 12 PM
Oct. 14 vs. Santa Clara, 6 PM
Oct. 16 vs. San Francisco, 12 PM
Oct. 21 vs. Loyola Marymount, 6 PM
Oct. 23 vs. Pepperdine, 12 PM
Oct. 28 at Saint Mary's, 7 PM
Oct. 30 at Pacific, 12 PM
Nov. 4 vs. San Diego, 6 PM
Nov. 6 vs. BYU, 12 PM
Nov. 11 at San Francisco, 7 PM
Nov. 13 at Santa Clara, 1 PM
Nov. 20 at Gonzaga, 12 PM
Nov. 23 at Loyola Marymount
Legend
Italics indicates WCC match
Bold indicates home match
*Indicates University of Idaho Tournament
^Indicates Montana State Bobcat Invitational
#Indicates Portland State Invitational
+Indicates University of Washington Tournament
