By Malika Andrews |
With the No. 12 Cougars in town, the Pilots knew they were the underdog heading into the match. BYU took the match 3-1 but Portland didn’t go down without a fight. The Pilots took set number one, the first set they’ve won against BYU since 2011.
“(BYU) had to play as well as they could play to beat us,” head coach Brent Crouch said. “I like that we pushed them to that level.”
BYU opened the first set on a 4-0 run, capitalizing on three Portland errors and a kill from BYU’s Amy Boswell. Sophomore Hannah Troutman’s kill for Portland ended the Cougars’ run, putting Portland on the board.
After senior Emily Liger sent a kill into the middle of the court to tie the set at nine, the teams stayed neck in neck for the remainder of the set.
As the set wound down, Portland libero Monica Gaijda recorded an ace to put Portland up 20-18. The cougars weren’t going anywhere, tying the set again at 22, 23 and 24 before the Pilots went on to take set one 26-24.
In the second set, Portland and BYU matched each other point for point to start, no team leading by more than two. The Cougars reached ten first, taking a four-point lead.
Following a Portland timeout with the Pilots trailing 21-16, a service error from BYU’s Alexa Gray and two kills from sophomore Sarah Savoca brought Portland to 19. The Pilots then fended off a set point to get to 20 before falling 25-20.
Portland earned their first three points of the third set off blocks. Portland took the 4-3 lead off Gaijda’s second ace of the match. BYU answered and took a 7-5 lead. After a tied score at 11, the teams tied at every point until BYU was able to gain momentum and extend their lead to two at 24-22.
The end of the third looked like the first set in reverse. The Pilots fended off two set points to tie the score at 24, but BYU prevailed, taking the set 26-24 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Set four started close. Midway through the set, BYU began to pull away and led by as many as six. Liger stepped up with 26 kills for her team, but BYU, led by Gray’s 30 kills, came away with a 25-18 win.
While Liger said she wished the team could’ve won the third set, she is happy with their overall performance.
“I feel like we had it (in the third). It could’ve gone either way,” Liger said. “But it felt really good that we could compete as well as we did against them knowing that they were the number two team in the country last year.”
Portland had 12 team blocks in the match to BYU’s nine. The Cougars currently lead the WCC in blocks.
The Pilots will return to the court Saturday at noon against No. 23 San Diego.
Malika Andrews is the sports editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at andrewsm17@up.edu or on Twitter @malika_andrews.
