PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Pilots Volleyball return home for their next five matches. The Pilots will go head-to-head with the Denver Pioneers on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Chiles Center. This is the first year that Denver Volleyball is part of the West Coast Conference. Then Portland will take on the San Diego Toreros on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. at the Chiles Center. Check PortlandPilots.com for live stats and video options. 

Opponent: Denver (8-9, 1-4 WCC)    
Day: Thursday     
Date: Oct. 15, 2026        
Time: 6 PM 
Place: Portland, Ore.    
Facility: Chiles Center   
Video: ESPN+    
Stats: PortlandPilots.com       
      
POR vs. DEN   
Overall Series: 2-2    
Last: L 0-3 (Sept. 1, 2022)   
  

Opponent: San Diego (7-8, 2-3 WCC)    
Day: Saturday     
Date: Oct. 17, 2026        
Time: 1 PM      
Place: Portland, Ore.     
Facility: Chiles Center 
Video: ESPN+    
Stats: PortlandPilots.com       
      
POR vs. USD    
Overall Series: 9-69    
Last: L 2-3 (Nov. 15, 2025) 

THIS SEASON
• Portland is currently 10-4 overall with a winning percentage of .714 and 3-2 in the WCC. This is the best record the Pilots have had for their first 14 games since 2018 when they began the season with 12 straight wins.   
• Last week, Portland won over the Pacific Tigers in a sweep (25-22, 25-22, 25-21) and lost to the Saint Mary's Gaels in four sets (25-20, 25-16, 24-26, 25-19). 
• Havannah Hoeft surpassed 500 season kills at the match against Saint Mary's, recorded a team high of 29 assists and tied for a match high across both teams with 14 digs. 
• Kala Chock had a team high of 16 kills and Taina Kaauwai and Shaylee Stephen both tallied three blocks, tying for a team high against Saint Mary's. 
• Kaauwai recorded four match highs across both teams against Pacific in kills (15), hitting percentage (.684), total blocks (2.5) and points (17.5). 
• Kaauwai and Chock tied for a match high across both teams with 15 kills each at the Pacific match. 
•Jeryn Hildnebrand recorded a match high across both teams with 14 digs, a new career high. 
• Hoeft lead the match with 33 assists, setting her team up for a total of 42 kills. 
• Hildenbrand leads Portland in service aces with 27 this season. She ranks second in the WCC for aces per set (0.52) and fourth for total service aces (27). Nationally, she is 33rd in aces per set.  
• Chock is the only player to win WCC Freshman of the Week more than once this season, earning the award a total of three times so far. Chock leads the Pilots with 163 kills and ranks second among Freshman in the WCC for total kills. She is ranked eighth in WCC for kills per set (3.13).  
• Chock was named MVP of the Portland Invite earlier this season.   
• Hoeft earned WCC Setter of the Week on Sept. 21 after she surpassed 500 career digs and 50 career service aces at the Nevada match. She led Portland with 10 digs at the Seattle U match and recorded 28 total assists, setting up her teammate Kaauwai for an .800 hitting percentage.  
• Hoeft leads Portland in assists (509) and digs (156). She ranks third in the WCC for assists per set (9.79) and fifth for total assists (509).   
• Hoeft ranks seventh in Pilot program history with 2,352 assists.    
• This season Hoeft has been named to All-Tournament Team three times and Kaauwai has been named to All-Tournament Team twice.    
• Kaauwai leads Portland with 40.0 blocks this season. She ranks first in the WCC and second nationally for her hitting percentage of .513. Kaauwai sits 10th in Pilot history for total blocks (314).  

LAST SEASON
• The Pilots went 14-15 overall and 9-9 in WCC play, the most conference wins for Portland since 2016.      
• Portland had five Pilots make All-WCC: Maui Robins, Havannah Hoeft, Lucia Busso, Taina Kaauwai and Elin Larsson.       
•Portland opened the season undefeated at the Vandal Volleyball Invitational, sweeping CSU Fullerton, Oral Roberts, and Idaho in straight sets.       
• Elin Larsson led the Pilots with match-high kills in every game and was named MVP of the Vandal Volleyball Invitational. Lucia Busso earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team after finishing with 25 kills over three matches, second most on the team.       
• Setter Havannah Hoeft paced the Pilots with 92 assists across three matches, averaging a league-best 10.22 per set. She also directed Portland's attack to a .309 hitting percentage, the top mark in the WCC. Hoeft surpassed 1,000 career assists in just the third match of her sophomore year.       
• In their home opener at the Portland Invitational, Pilots swept Eastern Washington in straight sets (25-15, 25-21, 25-23) for their fourth sweep of the season.        
• Robins was named Portland Invitational Tournament Co-MVP while Hoeft was named to the All-Tournament Team.       
• On Sept. 8, Libero Tinoa Woodward-Hart was named West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week after leading Portland's back row in all three matches. She posted a match-high 11 digs at Oregon, followed with a team high of 14 digs against Eastern Washington, and capped the week with a career-high 28 digs in the five-set victory over CSUN.       
• On Sept. 18 against the Idaho State Bengals, Maui Robins officially eclipsed 1,000 career kills.     
• On Sept. 29, Hoeft was named West Coast Conference Setter of the Week for her performance, marking Portland's second weekly conference award this season and the second of her career.       
• The Portland win against Seattle U on Oct. 4 gave the Pilots their first 3-0 start in conference play in program history.      
• The Pilots opened their homestand with a dominant 3-0 sweep over San Francisco, hitting a season-best .411 — their highest attack percentage in a match since 2018. This is the first time the Pilots have posted four wins in six conference games to start WCC play since 2017.        
• Senior Lucia Busso was named WCC Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 10, earning her first career weekly honor and Portland's third conference award this season. Busso totaled 29 kills and 34 points while hitting .373 across two matches. She has now surpassed 600 career kills and 150 career blocks, marking her best season yet with 238 kills so far.       

ABOUT THE PILOTS        
• Megan Burton enters her seventh season as head coach of the Pilots volleyball program. Dylan Hamilton is the associate head coach, while assistant coach Kyle Homeyer returns for the 2026 season. The Pilots also welcome back Kanza Tanuvasa in her second year as an assistant coach.       
• The program welcomes back 13 letter winners from the 2025 campaign.      
• The Pilots add six freshmen to the roster this fall — Josie Portela, Ellie Diehl Palmer, Ava Lilo, Shaylee Stephen, Kala Chock and Sophia Schneck — along with Sophomore transfer Lillian Lansing.      
• Returning standouts Maui Robins and Havannah Hoeft will continue to play pivotal roles in the Pilots' lineup.       
• Outside Hitter Maui Robins, was named to the 2026 WCC Preseason Team, the third year in a row.      
• Last year Robins led her team in service aces, along with Hoeft, and became the 22nd Pilot to reach 1,000 career points.      
• Robins finished last season second of her team in kills (300), second in digs (234), fourth is assists (40) and fourth in blocks (42).       
• Robins is ranked fourth in program history for kills (1,309) and eighth in program history for service aces (133).      
• Setter Havannah Hoeft made 2026 All-WCC Preseason and started in all 29 games last season. This is the second year Hoeft has been named to the Preseason Team.      
• Hoeft led Portland with 919 assists and was tied for the most service aces along with Maui Robins. She is ranked seventh all-time in program history for career assists (2,352) and received WCC Setter of the Week twice last season.      
• Returner Taina Kaauwai was named to All-WCC Second Team last season. She was second on the team in blocks (77), and fourth in kills (183) and service aces (25).      
• Nevaeh Bray is returning for another season. Last year Bray led the team in blocks (78), and was fifth on the team in kills (72).      
• Tinoa Woodward-Hart led Portland in digs last year (297) and was third in assists (47).      

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
• The Denver Pioneers are 8-9 overall and 1-4 in the WCC this season. Last week they lost to Pepperdine in a sweep (25-18, 25-14, 25-20) and LMU in five sets (25-19, 22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-13). 
• Alicia Thibodeau leads the Pioneers in kills (170), Lily Van Hal leads in assists (344) and Madison Winkler leads in digs (309). 
• Elise Hart leads Denver with 16 service aces and 44.0 blocks. 
• Megan Pendergast is in her fourth season as the Denver volleyball head coach. 
• The San Diego Torreros are 7-8 overall and 2-3 in the WCC Conference this year. They lost to LMU in five sets (13-25, 26-24, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12) and Pepperdine in a sweep (25-15, 25-22, 25-23) last week. 
• Kierstyn Barton leads the Torreros with 191 kills and ties with Ryann Knuth with the most service aces (16).  
•  Kylie Munday leads with 545 assists, Lauren Lynch leads with 242 digs and Meghan Scholz leads with 60.0 blocks.  
• Jennifer Petrie is in her 28th season as the San Diego volleyball head coach. 

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