PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Pilots Volleyball plays two more matches at home before hitting the road next week. The Pilots will take on the Loyola Marymount Lions on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. at the Chiles Center. Then Portland will play the Pepperdine Waves on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. at the Chiles Center.
All volleyball matches at the Chiles Center are free admission. Check PortlandPilots.com for live stats and video options.
Opponent: Loyola Marymount Lions (17-3, 8-1 WCC)
Day: Thursday
Date: Oct. 29, 2026
Time: 6 PM
Place: Portland, Ore.
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: ESPN+
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
POR vs. LMU
Overall Series: 11-67
Last: W 3-0 (Nov. 6, 2025)
Opponent: Pepperdine Waves (16-4, 8-1 WCC)
Day: Saturday
Date: Oct. 31, 2026
Time: 1 PM
Place: Portland, Ore.
Facility: Chiles Center
Video: ESPN+
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
POR vs. PEP
Overall Series: 6-70
Last: L 0-3 (Oct. 18, 2025)
THIS SEASON
• Portland is currently 11-6 overall and 4-4 in the WCC. This is the best record the Pilots have had for their first 17 games since 2018 when they went 13-4, beginning the season with 12 straight wins.
• Last week the Pilots defeated the Seattle U Redhawks in five sets (24-26, 25-21, 25-19, 19-25, 15-4). Portland recorded more than 10 career highs at this match.
• Four players recorded or tied career highs in service aces (Vanessa Haddock, Jeryn Hildenbrand, Ava Lilo and Callie Pieper), three players recorded career highs in blocks (Chock, Shaylee Stephen and Pieper), two players recorded career highs in kills (Chock and Taina Kaauwai) and two players recorded or tied career highs in digs (Hildenbrand and Lilo).
• Kala Chock recorded a match high across both teams with 20 kills, a new career high. She is the second player to hit 20 kills in one match this year, the first being Maui Robins who had 23 kills against Nevada.
• Hoeft tallied a match high across both teams with 51 assists. This is the third match where Hoeft has recorded over 50 assists this season.
• Hildenbrand had a match high across both teams with 14 digs, tying her career high.
• Stephen recorded a match high across both teams with eight blocks, a new career high.
• Kaauwai tallied 17 kills, a career high for the middle blocker. Kaauwai had a hitting percentage of .560, a team high.
• Lilo had a match high across both teams with five service aces, a new career high
• Kaauwai is the national leader with a hitting percentage of .524. She leads Portland with 47.0 blocks this season and ranks ninth in Pilot program history with 321 total blocks.
• Hildenbrand leads Portland in service aces with 29 this season. She ranks second in the WCC for aces per set (0.51) and fourth for total service aces (33). Nationally, she is 29th in aces per set.
• Chock leads the Pilots with 208 kills and ranks second among Freshman in the WCC for total kills. She is ranked eighth in WCC for kills per set (3.20).
• Chock was named MVP of the Portland Invite earlier this season and has won the WCC Freshman of the Week award a total of three times, the only freshman to win this award three times 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 (637) and digs (184). She ranks third in the WCC for assists per set (9.8) and fifth for total assists (637).
• Hoeft ranks seventh in Pilot history with 2,480 assists.
• This season Hoeft has been named to All-Tournament Team three times and Kaauwai has been named to All-Tournament Team twice.
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 (2,480) 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 LMU Lions are 17-3 overall and 8-1 in the WCC. Last week they beat Santa Clara in four sets (25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21) and San Francisco in a sweep (25-22, 25-20, 25-13).
• Maria Tabacuks leads LMU with 316 kills and 23 service aces.
• Gabriella Cascione leads her team in digs (277), Aleksandra Stojanovic leads in blocks (61.0) and Delfina Schuh leads in assists (728).
• Kolby O'Donnell is in his second season as the LMU volleyball head coach.
• The Pepperdine Waves are 16-4 overall and 8-1 in the WCC conference. Last week they defeated San Francisco in a sweep (25-13, 25-18, 25-12) and Santa Clara in four sets (25-22, 25-23, 26-28, 25-22).
• Chloe Pravednikov leads the Waves in kills (224), Tristen Raymond leads in assists (732), and Laine Briggs leads in digs (317).
• Ryan Gilhooly is the team leader in service aces (25) and Ella Piskroz is the team leader in blocks (112.0).
• Scott Wong is in his 12th season as the Pepperdine Waves volleyball head coach.
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