Portland Pilots (3-3, 0-0 WCC)
at the PDX Classic
 
Portland State Vikings (1-4, 0-0 Big Sky)
Day: Thursday
Date: Sept. 9, 2021
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Facility: Viking Pavilion
Video: portlandpilots.com
Stats: portlandpilots.com
 
POR vs. PSU
Overall Series: 20-35
Last: POR 1, @PSU 3 (9.21.19)
 
Texas-El Paso Miners (6-0, 0-0 C-USA)
Day: Friday
Date: Sept. 10, 2021
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Facility: Viking Pavilion
Stats: portlandpilots.com
 
POR vs. UTEP
Overall Series: 3-0
Last: UTEP 0, @POR 3 (9.15.17)
 
Grand Canyon Antelopes (6-0, 0-0 WAC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Sept. 11, 2021
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Facility: Viking Pavilion
Stats: portlandpilots.com
 
POR vs. GCU
Overall Series: 1-0
Last: GCU 0, @POR 3 (9.5.15)
 
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots are back in town for the PDX Classic hosted by Portland State at Viking Pavilion.
• UP is scheduled for three matches at the tournament, seeing the Vikings first on Thursday, September 9 at 7:00pm, UTEP on Friday, September 10 at 3:30pm, and closing out the weekend against Grand Canyon on Saturday, September 11  and 11:00am
• Live stats for each of the matches can be found at portlandpilots.com, and live video will be provided with an ESPN+ subscription for the game against Portland State.
 
LAST WEEK
• The Pilots went 1-2 at the Montana State Bobcat Classic, defeating the tournament hosts 3-1 in a come from behind win in the fourth set.
• Junior outside hitter Jayde Harris and graduate setter Paloma Bowman were both selected to the Bobcat Classic All-Tournament team following strong performances for the Portland squad in Montana.
• Jayde Harris cracked a new career high 18 kills against the Bobcats, and leads the Pilots in attacks this season with 64.
• Bowman registered a double-double against the Bobcats with 18 assists and 15 digs, adding eight kills while converting on a .412 hitting percentage.
• Junior setter Noelani Helm notched a new career high 28 assists against Montana State, adding eight kills, seven digs, two aces and three block assists in the game as well.
 
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 hitters Jayde Harris and Jiana Lawson to provide the attack this year, Harris leads all Pilot returners with 144 kills from the previous season.
• As a team, the Pilots sit atop the West Coast Conference so far this season in block solos with 12. Portland also currently ranks third in service aces.
• Through the first two weeks of matches, sophomore Chelsey Harmon has the fourth highest hitting percentage in the conference at .375.
• Junior libero Grace Zilbert is currently fifth place in the WCC in total digs with 73.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• Portland State is coming off of a two-loss weekend after 3-0 defeats from both No. 16 UCLA and Long Beach State in California. The Vikings' only win so far this fall came against Santa Clara back on Aug. 28. Parker Webb leads PSU in kills on the year with 36, with eight of those scored in the last match against Long Beach State.
• UTEP is undefeated to begin non-conference play, most recently taking Arizona and New Mexico State in five sets and sweeping Northwestern. Serena Patterson leads the Miners in kills with 64, while Kristen Fritsche has provided a team-high 137 assists.
• Grand Canyon is off to a 6-0 start in 2021, and has only lost one set so far this season, taken by the Idaho Vandals. The Antelopes' last victory was a 3-0 win over Villanova this past Sunday. McKenzie Wise has been GCU's most productive scorer, collecting 75 kills. Klaire Mitchell has 185 assists on the year, and is averaging 9.74 per set.