PORTLAND PILOTS (8-6, 1-2 WCC)
Portland Pilots vs. No.15 BYU Cougars
BYU Cougars
(9-3, 2-0 WCC)
Day: Thursday         Â
Date: Sept. 29, 2022
Place: Portland, Ore.     Â
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Facility: Chiles Center     Â
Video: WCCSports.com
Stats: portlandpilots.com
POR vs. BYUÂ Â Â Â
Overall Series: 1-21 Â Â Â Â Â
Last: @POR 0 - BYU 3 (2021)
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots continue WCC play this week with two ranked matches against BYU and San Diego. The matches will take place on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 6 p.m and Saturday, Oct. 1, with both matches starting at 1 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.
• The Pilots lost to the LMU Lions on Tuesday, bringing their overall record to 8-6, and their conference record to 1-2.
• Prior to that, the Pilots defeated Pacific for the first time since 2019.
• Jayde Harris was named WCC Offensive Player of the Week for her .361 attack percentage and combined 45 kills over two games. She was the first Pilot to win WCC Player of the Week since 2018.
• 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 Pilots' 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 lead the WCC in aces per set (1.90), while also being ranked fourth in digs per set (13.28), fourth in team assists (578), third in team digs (704), fourth in team kills (619), second in team service aces (101) and fourth in team total attacks (1,674).
• 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 (10.22), second in points per set (4.53), third in total points (208.5) and fourth in kills per set (3.89) and third in total kills (179).
• Grace Zilbert is also ranked fourth overall in the conference for digs per set (3.94) and third overall in total digs (185).
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• No. 15 BYU currently has an overall record of 9-3.
• Their team is led offensively by junior Erin Livingston, who has 163 kills. She is followed by senior Heather Gneiting, who has 105 kills so far this season.
• Defensively, the Cougars are led by senior Whitney Bower who has 110 digs, as well as senior Heather Gneiting who has 46 blocks.
• BYU has won all but three games this season, with all of their losses coming from teams ranked in the top-15.
• The Cougars wins included a tournament win at the doTERRA Classic.
• The Cougars are ranked first in the conference for assists per set (12.59), hitting percentage (.279) and kills per set (13.56). They are also ranked second in opp hitting percentage (.177).
