Portland vs. Saint Mary's College

Saint Mary's College
(3-5, 0-0 WCC)
Day: Wednesday                  
Date: Sept. 21, 2022
Place: Portland, Ore.           
Time: 12:00 P.M.
Facility: Chiles Center           
Video: WCCSports.com
Stats: portlandpilots.com
 

POR vs. SMC   
Overall Series: 25-48           
Last: POR 1 @SMC 3 (2021)
 

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots open WCC play this week with a match on Wednesday at 12 p.m. against the Saint Mary's Gaels. The Pilots will continue later in the week with a game against Pacific on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
• Live stats for each of the matches can be found at Portlandpilots.com, and live video for all matches will be available on WCCSports.com.

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.
• Currently the Pilots have an overall record of 7-4 after competing in, and winning 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 single 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 as well 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, with three athletes earning all-tournament honors.
• This included Noelani Helm (MVP), Maui Robins and Jayde Harris.
• The Pilots lead the WCC in aces per set (1.95), while also being ranked third in digs per set (14.38), fifth in team assists (460), third in team attacks per set (34.90), fifth in team digs (575), fifth in team kills (492), second in team service aces (78), fourth in team total attacks (1,396), and fifth in team blocks (83).
• Noelani Helm is also the overall leader nationally and within the WCC for triple-doubles, sitting at four so far this season.
• Jayde Harris sits at third in the conference in attacks per set (10.25), fourth in points per set (4.39) and fourth in kills per set (3.72).
• Grace Zilbert is also ranked second overall in the conference for digs per set (4.14).

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• Saint Mary's currently has an overall record of 3-5.
• Their team is led offensively by gradute student Hawley Harrer, who has 90 kills. She is followed by redshirt freshman Genevieve Bane who has 64 kills so far this season.
• Last year, Saint Mary's had an overall record of 15-12, which included a conference record of 9-9.
• Saint Mary's has a relatively young team with nine out of their 15 total players being freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores.
•Saint Mary's is ranked fifth in blocks per set (2.25) and fifth in attacks per set in the WCC rankings (34.25).