CHENEY, Wash. - Portland Pilots Volleyball hits the road for Cheney, Wash. where they will play in the Eastern Volleyball Tournament hosted by Eastern Washington. The Pilots take on the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 3 p.m. at Reese Court. Then Portland goes head-to-head with the Nevada Wolf Pack on Friday, Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. before going against host team Eastern Washington on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 3 p.m.
Opponent: CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (3-5, 0-0 Big West)
Day: Thursday
Date: Sept. 17, 2026
Time: 3 PM
Place: Cheney, Wash.
Facility: Reese Court
Video: N/A
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
POR vs. CSUB
Overall Series: 3-0
Last: W 3-0 (Aug. 24, 2018)
Opponent: Nevada Wolf Pack (0-7, 0-0 Mountain West)
Day: Friday
Date: Sept. 18, 2026
Time: 3 PM
Place: Cheney, Wash.
Facility: Reese Court
Video: N/A
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
POR vs. NEV
Overall Series: 5-2
Last: W 3-0 (Aug. 29, 2026)
Opponent: Eastern Washington Eagles (6-3, 0-0 Big Sky)
Day: Saturday
Date: Sept. 19, 2026
Time: 3 PM
Place: Cheney, Wash.
Facility: Reese Court
Video: ESPN+
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
POR vs. EWU
Overall Series: 6-13
Last: W 3-0 (Sept. 5, 2025)
THIS SEASON
• Portland is currently 4-2 overall with a winning percentage of .677, tied for second place in WCC with Denver and Pepperdine in regular season play.
• The Pilots finished Week 3 1-1, with a loss to North Dakota State in three sets (25-21, 25-22, 25-16) and a win over Montana State in four sets (24-26, 25-15, 25-20, 25-23).
• Kala Chock earned WCC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season, recording 18 kills, 21 digs, six assists, three service aces and two blocks. She had a double-double against Montana State with 14 digs and 11 kills, a match
high across both teams in digs and a career high.
• She is the only player in WCC to win Freshman of the Week twice this season, and the first Pilot to win two Freshman of the Week awards in program history. Chock is the team leader in kills (69).
• Havannah Hoeft and Taina Kaauwai made All-Tournament Team at the Bobcat Invite. Hoeft had 62 assists, 10 kills and 21 digs. She had a hitting percentage of .500 against Dakota State with four kills and a match high of 11 digs. Hoeft ranks fourth in WCC in assists per set (9.5) and leads her team in assists (228) and digs (70).
• Kaauwai recorded 18 kills, five blocks and a combined hitting percentage of .460 in Week 3. Her hitting percentage against North Dakota State was a match high across both teams (.545) and she currently ranks first in WCC in hitting percentage (.500). Kaauwai surpassed 150 career digs at the end of the weekend.
• Kaauwai leads her team in blocks (18). After Portland's match against Nevada (8/29), she climbed into Top 10 in program all time history for blocks. She has 292 career blocks.
• Maui Robins played her first game of the season, recording a double-double against UCR. Robins put down 16 kills and 11 digs.
• Jeryn Hildenbrand knocked down three service aces against UCR and three at Montana St., tying her match high from last year. She leads her team in service aces this season at 13.
• Hoeft surpassed 2,000 career assists at the UCR match and recorded a personal career match high of 15 digs against San Jose State.
• Ellie Diehl Palmer recorded a career high of 12 kills in one match against San Jose.
• Chock recorded 19 kills in the match against San Jose, tying for the most by any Pilot freshman since 2022.
• Chock was named WCC Freshman of the Week for Week 1 with 30 total kills, 19 total digs and a double-double in the Portland State match (17 kills and 12 digs). She was named MVP of the Portland Invite.
• Hoeft and Kaauwai were both named to the Portland Invite All-Tournament Team.
• Hoeft had 79 assists in week one, setting her team up for a hitting percentage of .323. She had 25 digs in the Nevada match, one dig short from her match high.
LAST SEASON
• 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 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 sixth in program history for kills (1,245) and eigth in program history for service aces (125).
• 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 eigth all-time in program history for career assists (2,071) 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
• CSU Bakersfield went 6-24 overall and 3-15 in Big West play last season.
• This season they are 3-5 overall. They lost both of their matches last week against Santa Clara (3-2) and San Diego State (3-1).
• Luiza Da Cruz leads her team in assists (164) and ties with Analiese Gagliano in service aces (9).
• Gagliano leads the roadrunners in digs (89), Suelen Lima leads in kills (109) and Defne Yanik leads in blocks (26.0).
• Kristen Write started as the Roadrunner volleyball head coach in Spring of last year, entering her first fall season this year.
• Last season, the Nevada Wolf Pack went 8-20 overall and 4-14 in the Mountain West Conference. This season they are 0-7.
• Portland took victory over the Wolf Pack in a three-set sweep earlier this season (23-25, 18-25, 18-25).
• Paige Thies leads the Wolf Pack in kills (103) and service aces (11) while Keely Hummel leads in assists (143), Masyn Navarro leads in digs (65) and Karly Bonaventure leads in blocks (23.0).
• Jason Borchin is in his first year as the Nevada volleyball head coach.
• The Eastern Washington Eagles went 3-25 overall and 1-15 in the Big Sky Conference last season and are currently 6-3 this year. They ended last week with two losses and a win over Sacramento State (3-2).
• Kalista Lukovich leads the Eagles in kills (145), Ellie Bruegman leads in digs (140) and Jailyn Davenport leads in assists (243). Sidney Gray is the current team leaders in blocks (46.0) with Lukovich and Jade Livingston tied in service aces (11).
• Jon Haruguchi is in his fourth year as the Eastern Washington volleyball head coach.
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