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This Week in Pilots Volleyball...
Fresh off a thrilling five-set victory against South Florida, providing first-year coach Joe Houck with his first home win, the Portland Pilots head across town to take part in the Portland State Showcase. Beginning on Thursday, the Pilots play against the host Portland State Vikings at 7 p.m. in the opening match of the tournament. Portland plays four teams in three days at the showcase, that also includes Idaho, Oregon State, Seattle and UC Riverside. On Friday, Portland meets Seattle for its second match of the tourney at 2:00 p.m.
It’s an early start on Saturday as the Pilots meet Oregon State at 10:00 a.m. The Pilots finish their tourney later that day with a 5:00 p.m. match against the Highlanders. All games are played at the Stott Center in downtown Portland.
Game Day Coverage
All Portland home matches will once again be video streamed live at www.pilotsvideo.com. A season pass is available for $40, while single-game matches are $8. Free audio streams and live stats will continue to be available at www.portlandpilots.com.
Pilot Podcasts
As part of the new and improved portlandpilots.com, fans will be treated with frequent and exclusive interviews from all UP athletic programs throughout the 2008-09 sports seasons.
Visit the Pilots Podcast page for previews, reviews, Q&A’s and other fun features. Coaches, student-athletes and athletic administrators will all be frequent contributors to the new Podcast page.
Looking Back
Portland provided first-year coach Joe Houck with his first home win last weekend by defeating South Florida in a thrilling five-set match to conclude the Nike Portland Invitational at the Chiles Center. It was a record day for UP, with Jessica Clemens establishing a new school record for service aces in a single match with 10, breaking the previous mark of seven by Sheila Merhar (vs. Hofstra, 9-24-94). Senior Ashley Grayson matched her career high in kills with 21. Junior Kaylyn Jones shattered her career high with 51 assists and senior Jennifer Sheedy matched her career high with three solo blocks. Earlier in the tournament, Portland fell 3-1 to Arizona State and 3-0 to both UC Irvine and No. 20 Kansas State. Grayson and Clemens were both named to the Nike Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Scouting Portland State
The Vikings opened the season by going 4-2, defeating College of Charleston, Wyoming, Boise State and Gonzaga, while falling to Oregon State and No. 9 Washington. Junior Lindsey Steele leads the Viking attack thus far with a team-high 52 kills. Defensively, senior libero Jalen Pendon-Thomas leads the team in digs with 98 and has at least 10 digs in all six matches this season. Junior Erica Jepsen has made 21 blocks this fall.
Head coach Michael Seemann led the Vikings to a 21-8 record last season and returns to Portland State for his second year. Nine letterwinners and five starters returned this fall. The Pilots won the most recent meeting with the Vikings 3-2 in 2007 in Portland, Ore., but PSU leads the all-time series 31-17.
Scouting Seattle
The Redhawks, in the process of transitioning from NCAA Div. II to Div. I, has had a rough start to the season by going 1-6. Seattle defeated Boise State, while losing to Washington State, Cal State Northridge, Oregon State, South Florida, No. 6 UCLA and Nevada. Cristin Richards has a team-high 62 kills, Jamie Mellies has 185 assists and Emily Deleissegues has 61 digs.
Shannon Ellis is in her fifth year as head coach of the Redhawks. Seattle returned nine letterwinners and five starters from a squad that went 10-16 last season. The Pilots and Redhawks last met in 1983 with UP sweeping 2-0 in Burnaby, B.C. Portland won the only other previous meeting.
Scouting OSU
The Beavers jump-started the season with a 5-0 mark and now sit at a 5-2. Most recently, they served Pacific a 3-2 loss and fell 3-0 to No. 17 Colorado State and 3-2 to Pepperdine at the ASICS Classic at home in Corvalis, Ore. Sophomore Jill Sawatzky was named to the All-Tournament Team and leads the team with 79 kills on the season. Junior Camilla Ah-hoy has dished out 237 assists and senior Ashley Evans has made a team-high 87 digs.
Taras Liskevych is in his third season as head coach at OSU and posted a record of 10-20 last season. The Beavers returned 11 letterwinners and six starters. In their last meeting in 2005, OSU had the edge on UP with a 3-0 score in Portland, Ore. The Beavs claim a 37-6 advantage in the all-time series.
Scouting UC Riverside
The Highlanders, who sit at 5-3, won two of three matches last weekend in Berkeley, Calif., defeating DePaul and James Madison by identical 3-1 margins. UCR fell to fifth-ranked California 3-0. UC Riverside is led by senior outside hitter Kelly Fink, who is ranked 29th in the nation in kills per set (4) and 116 total. Junior middle blocker Angela Pizzella leads the team on the defensive end with 10 block solos and 20 block assists.
Head coach Sue Gozansky is in her 38th year with the Highlanders, who went 6-21 last fall. UC Riverside returns 12 letterwinners and six starters. In their last meeting in 2002, UP beat UC Riverside 3-1 in Reno, Nev. UCR won the other previous meeting.
Trio of Seniors
Seniors K.C. Fox, Ashley Grayson and Jennifer Sheedy are all playing pivotal roles for the Pilots this season. Grayson, a middle blocker who can play multiple positions, is leading the team with 83 kills and 15 total blocks in the seven matches.
Sheedy, Grayson’s counterpart in the middle, is building on her solid junior year, connecting on 61 kills. She is second on the team with 14 total blocks, three of which were solos.
Fox, an outsider hitter, has started her senior campaign contributing strongly both offensively and defensively. She has 65 kills, 46 digs, seven total blocks and has served five aces.
NKOTB
The class of Pilot newcomers are having an immediate impact on the program and showing promise early in this season. Freshmen Marissa Plummer and Allix Strahon have gotten a good feel for the purple jersey playing in all seven matches this season, with both having breakout performances this past weekend. The versatile Strahon, a native of Eugene, Ore., plays as a libero/setter and has shown solid defense so far with 27 digs. Middle blocker Plummer, making the most of her floor time, has been impactful at the net both offensively and defensively. The 6-2 Plummer has contributed 14 kills and four blocks, including a block solo. Katie Hronek, a 6-0 outside hitter from Kent, Wash., will also help to reinforce the net this season. The athletic outside hitter Robyn Hall, from Hayward, Calif., has seen action in four games so far. Rounding out the newcomers is Rachel Femling, an outside hitter from Vancouver, Wash., who also stands at 6-0.
The Career Charts
Four-year starters Ashley Grayson and Jennifer Sheedy have both landed on UP’s all-time career charts. Sheedy currently ranks fifth on the all-time attack percentage chart with a mark of .258. Grayson is seventh on the career block assists list with 199 and is eighth in both total blocks with 242 and blocks per set at 0.81.
Sheedy, who has 813 career kills, is now 114 kills from cracking the top-ten list in that category. She’s also 14 total blocks away from landing on the all-time blocks list.
Danielle Dupar is ranked fourth on the career digs per set list with 3.30.
The Clemenses
Sisters Maria and Jessica Clemens are back for their second season together on The Bluff. Maria, a junior, has moved to setter this year after spending the last two years as mainly an outside hitter. Jessica, a sophomore outside hitter, had a phenomenal freshman campaign. She led the team last fall with 36 service aces, while finishing second in kills (298), kills per game (3.01) and digs (306). Jessica also plays basketball for UP.
The Clemens name is a familiar one throughout the state of Oregon. Brother Kellen was a standout quarterback for the Oregon Ducks and is currently playing for the New York Jets in the NFL.
