PORTLAND PILOTS (8-7, 1-3 WCC)
Portland Pilots vs. No. 4 San Diego Toreros
San Diego Toreros (12-1, 2-0 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Oct. 1, 2022
Place: Portland, Ore.
Time: 1:00 P.M.
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: WCCSports.com
Stats: portlandpilots.com
POR vs. USD
Overall Series: 9-61
Last: @POR 0 - USD 3 (2021)
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots continue WCC play this week against No.4 University of San Diego. The match will be hosted at the Chiles Center at 1 p.m. this Saturday.
• Live stats for the match can be found at Portlandpilots.com, and live video for the match 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 played both the LMU Lions and the No.15 BYU Cougars, and were defeated in both, bringing their overall record to 8-7 and their conference record to 1-3.
• 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 her last 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 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 lead the WCC in aces per set (1.82), fifth in team assists (613), third in team digs (734), fifth in team kills (654), second in team service aces (102) and fourth in team total attacks (1,852).
• 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 second in the conference in attacks per set (10.23), second in total attacks (532) fourth in points per set (4.38), third in total points (227.5) and fourth in kills per set (3.77).
• Grace Zilbert is also ranked fourth overall in total digs (201).
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• San Diego currently has an overall record of 12-1, and sit at No. 4 in the national rankings.
• Their team is led offensively by redshirt senior Katie Lukes who has 168 kills. She is followed by graduate student Breana Edwards who has 145 kills so far this season.
• San Diego has won all but 1 game this season. They have beaten three ranked teams.
• The Toreros have also won three tournaments this season, which included all but one of their ranked team wins.
• The Toreros rank first in opp hitting percentage (.166). They are also ranked second in the conference for blocks per set (2.69), hitting percentage (.268) and team total blocks (129).
