PORTLAND PILOTS (9-10, 2-6 WCC)
Week 9 - No. 22 Pepperdine Waves and Loyola Marymount Lions
No. 22 Pepperdine Waves
(14-5, 5-3 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Oct. 20, 2022
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: WCCSports.com
Stats: portlandpilots.com
POR vs. PEP
Overall Series: 6-64
Last: L POR 0 vs. @SCU 3 (2021)
Loyola Marymount Lions
(10-6, 6-2 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Oct. 22, 2022
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 1:00 P.M.
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: WCCSports.com
Stats: portlandpilots.com
POR vs. LMU
Overall Series: 10-62
Last: L POR vs. @LMU 3 (2022)
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots continue WCC play this week at home against the No. 22 Pepperdine Waves and Loyola Marymount Lions. The first game against No. 22 Pepperdine will take place on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m., while the second game againstLoyola Marymount will take place on Saturday, Oct. 22 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.
• The Pilots played two hardfought matches against Santa Clara and San Francisco but fell short in both games.
• 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 second in both the WCC in aces per set (1.79) and team service aces (104), as well as team service aces (131).
• Additionally, the Pilots are ranked fourth in both team total digs (960) and team total attacks (2,388). Portland also rank fifth in team total blocks (146.5).
• 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 first in the conference for attacks per set (10.54), second in total attacks (727), fourth in points per set (4.33), third in total points (299) and fifth in kills per set (3.72).
• Grace Zilbert is also ranked fourth overall in total digs (250).
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• The No. 22 Pepperdine currently sits at 14-5 overall for the season and 5-3 in conference play.
• The Waves are led offensively by Jaylen Jasper who has 378 kills so far this season. They are also led defenseively by Spencer Wickens who has 152 digs.
• Loyola Marymount sits at 10-6 overall for the season, as well as 6-2 in the conference.
• The Lions are led offensively by a Katie Geissberger who has 194 kills.
• Their defense is led by Sam Hastings with 186 digs.
