PORTLAND PILOTS (9-8, 2-4 WCC)
Week 8 - Santa Clara Broncos and San Francisco Dons

Santa Clara Broncos
(6-12, 2-4 WCC)

Day: Thursday                 
Date: Oct. 13, 2022
Place: Santa Clara, Calif.           
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Facility: Leavey Center            
Video: WCCSports.com
Stats: portlandpilots.com

POR vs. SCU                 
Overall Series: 13-58     
Last: L @POR 2 vs. SCU 3

San Francisco Dons
(7-10, 0-6 WCC)

Day: Saturday                  
Date: Oct. 15, 2022
Place: San Francisco, Calif.          
Time: 1:00 P.M.
Facility: War Memorial Gym          
Video: WCCSports.com
Stats: portlandpilots.com

POR vs. USF     
Overall Series: 34-39     
Last: W @POR 3 vs. USF 2

THIS WEEK 
• The Pilots continue WCC play this week against the Santa Clara Broncos and the San Francisco Dons. The first game against Santa Clara will take place on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m., while the second game against San Francisco will take place on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 1 p.m. 

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Megan Burton enters her third year as the head coach of the Pilots volleyball program, with assistant coaches Dylan Hamilton also returning for the 2022 season. Additionally, the Pilots welcome Kyle Homeyer as a new assistant coach for the 2022 season after serving as a volunteer coach in 2021. 
• The Pilots also bring back six letter winners from the fall 2021 season.
• The program welcomes seven true freshmen to The Bluff this fall in Maui Robins, Elin Larsson, Jordan Bardouche, Marleena Catalan, Lucia Busso, Larkin Chock, and Una Rajkovic.  
• Portland has also added three transfer students to their roster, including setter Talyn Jackson out of Virginia Tech, middle blocker Griselda Memia from American University and outside hitter Lia Hawken from Dayton University.
• Portland will be looking for leadership from returner Jayde Harris, as well as their transfers to create an exciting and dynamic offense this season. Harris led the team with 261 kills in 2021, which earned her all-WCC honors.
• Jayde Harris was named WCC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 10 for the second time this season for her 25 kills and .352 attack percentage. She is the first Pilot to win two WCC Player of the Week honors in over a decade. 
• The Pilots defeated the Gonzaga Bulldogs 3-1, moving their overall record to 9-8 and their conference record to 2-4.
•The Pilots played the LMU Lions,  the No. 15 BYU Cougars, and the No. 4 USD Toreros but were defeated in all three matches.
• Two weeks ago, the Pilots defeated Pacific for the first time since 2019
• The Pilots fell to Saint Mary's in their first conference game of the season after a  hard-fought five-set match against Saint Mary's. 
• Prior to the WCC opener, the Pilots won the Portland North Marriott Invitational. 
• This was the Pilot's second tournament win this season, making it the first time since 2018 that Portland has won more than one tournament in a season.
• Jayde Harris was named tournament MVP of the Portland North Marriott Invitational. Noelani Helm and Grace Zilbert were also named to the all-tourament team. 
• Jayde Harris was an all-tournament selectee for the Oregon State Invitational.
• The Pilots also competed in the Denver Invitational, where they finished with two wins and one loss.
• Prior to that, the Pilots competed in the Sacramento State Invitational, where they ultimately won the tournament overall. This was their first tournament win since 2019, earning three athletes all-tournament honors. 
• This included Noelani Helm (MVP), Maui Robins, and Jayde Harris.  
• The Pilots are third in the WCC in aces per set (1.76) and team service aces (104), as well as fifth in team total attacks (1,932).
• Noelani Helm is also ranked second in the nation and first within the WCC for triple-doubles, sitting at four so far this season.
• Jayde Harris ranks second in the conference for attacks per set (10.25), fourth in total attacks (564), fourth in points per set (4.31), third in total points (237) and fourth in kills per set (3.73). 
• Grace Zilbert is also ranked fourth overall in total digs (208).

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS 
• Santa Clara currently sits at 6-12 overall for the season and 2-4 in conference play. 
• The Broncos are led offensively by Julia Sangiacomo who has 265 kills so far this season. They are also led defenseively by Kat Georgiadis who has 254 digs. 
• San Francisco sits at 7-10 overall for the season, as well as 0-6 in the conference. 
• The Dons are led offensively by a trio of Claire Crijins, Shyia Richardson and Maria Petkova who have 178, 167 and 164 kills, respectively. 
• Their defense is led by Abby Wadas with 226 digs.