2021 Volleyball

New Volleyball Head Coach Megan Burton gives us an update on her team and the program...

Our newest Pilot, Alyssa Muraoka.

A libero at Mid-Pacific, Muraoka earned all-league recognition in both 2018 and 2019, captaining the Owls to win the ILH D2 Championship in 2018. That year Muraoka landed all-state honors, while leading her team in both digs and aces. In 2019, she led her team in both categories again, as well as in blocks, kills, and assists.

https://portlandpilots.com/news/2020/11/12/volleyball-signs-muraoka-to-an-nli.aspx

Elizabeth Reich follows former head coach Crouch to Auburn.

https://oanow.com/sports/college/auburn/auburn-volleyball-goes-coast-to-coast-bringing-in-two-new-transfers/article_da41ca78-a47d-11eb-ba02-e31ae0ad60a8.html

Pilots welcome 6 newcomers to the roster including recently discussed Alyssa Muraoka

Paloma Bowman, Setter, 5-10 - A grad transfer from UC Davis who played both indoor and beach. She is also a former 2017 Big West All-Freshman Team member. She brings quality setting experience with a high volleyball IQ.

Charity Bradley, Outside/Opposite Hitter, 6-4 - Another grad transfer this time from Washington State. She was a part of four different Cougars squads to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. She's also the daughter of former 12-year NBA veteran Shawn Bradley

Alyssa Muraoka, Libero, 5-6, Fr. - See above.

Emma Swett, Middle Blocker, 6-1, Fr. - A true freshman from just across the river in Woodland, WA. She became the first player from SW Washington to win the WA State Gatorade Player of the Year. She was also a 2020 AVCA Under Armour All-American watch list.

Keilani Mumolo, Libero, 5-7, Fr. - A true freshman from Rancho Cucamonga, CA that will bring a fire and attitude to the back row with steady ball control.

Gabby Quach, Setter, 5-9, Fr. - A talented true Freshman setter from San Francisco, CA, she brings experience playing at a high level helping her team to a perfect 14-0 in league play and 7-0 postseason record. She led her team to the SF CIF championship, Northern CA Division Championship and CIF State Division 3 championship in 2019.

Here are the results of the WCC Coaches preseason poll:

Team (First Place Vote), Points
1. BYU (9), 81
2. San Diego (1), 70
3. Pepperdine, 68
4. Loyola Marymount, 57
5. Santa Clara, 49
6. Saint Mary's, 38
7. Gonzaga, 29
8. Pacific, 27
9. San Francisco, 19
10. Portland, 12

Brent Crouch built a very strong volleyball team at UP, it is too bad that Jeff Baxter destroyed it before getting fired in midseason a few years ago.  

Coach Burton better show a turnaround soon (what is this, her third full year?) or the Pilots are going to go back to being as bad as they were during the pre-Crouch era.

Granted, the WCC is a very good conference, but UP should at least be competitive!!

StudentPilot wrote:  

Coach Burton better show a turnaround soon (what is this, her third full year?) or the Pilots are going to go back to being as bad as they were during the pre-Crouch era.

Granted, the WCC is a very good conference, but UP should at least be competitive!!

It's only Megan's second season as the head coach and after talking with players after the 2019 season when Baxter got fired there wasn't much positivity. Burton I think has a lot of players to her liking and how she is using Noelani and Paloma things should be better than the spring season.

She's growing the program her way and with her Hawaiian connection along with Aven and Dylan they have a solid recruiting line to the islands and I believe if you give her a real chance you will see the improvement you're looking for. I've been to the practices and scrimmage there are some nice things, but you can't jump ship after a first year covid season when a program retools.

The Pilots opened up their 2021 season with a victory over the Nevada Wolfpack, Coach Burton's most recent stop before UP, winning the match 3-1.

The Wolfpack took set 1 (25-23) and the Pilots responded by winning three straight sets (25-18 / 25-22 / 25-21)

Jayde Harris led the way with 14 kills, followed by Paloma Bowman (13) and Ryann Gregg (11), who's getting some PT this season after not playing in the spring season.

Paloma Bowman making a name for herself in her first match in a Pilot uniform she goes for a Triple-Double (13 kills, 23 assists and 18 digs)

BSleik wrote:The Pilots opened up their 2021 season with a victory over the Nevada Wolfpack

The Pilots come away with a 3 set sweep of Idaho in their second match of the day. (25-22, 25-13, 25-20)

At one point the Pilots were swinging .340 (good average is like baseball .300) Jayde Harris had 15 Kills one off of her career high.

The Pilots 2-0 already tying the match win total from the spring season. As a volleyball fan, I'm beyond excited to see these ladies play in the Chiles Center come September.

The Volleyball team, now 3-3 on the season, will not be in the Chiles Center this week, but will be playing in the PDX Classic in PSU's Viking Pavilion this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

If you have not seen the Viking Pavilion or the 2021 Pilots, this is your chance!

Thursday vs. PSU @ 7pm
Friday vs. UTEP @ 3:30pm
Saturday vs. Grand Canyon @ 10am (an hour earlier than currently listed on the Pilots website)

The UP website is now showing the game against Grand Canyon will be @ 1am, but I would go with the 10am I posted earlier...

Stopped in to watch some of the Pilots vs. Vikings volleyball this evening, and it really wasn't even close as the Vikings overcame UP in 4 sets.

DoubleDipper wrote:Thursday vs. PSU @ 7pm
Friday vs. UTEP @ 3:30pm
Saturday vs. Grand Canyon @ 10am (an hour earlier than currently listed on the Pilots website)

The time of the Saturday game has changed again, it is now at 12:30pm in Viking Pavilion.

Anytime UP beats Gonzaga in any sport it is a good thing, and on Saturday afternoon the Pilots swept an error prone Bulldog team, 25-20, 25-17, and 25-19.

I know very little about volleyball, but it was fun to watch as all the players seems to be super-amped and having fun, even when points were scored against them.

Well plenty of players have now entered the Transfer Portal, which wasnt too much of a surprise when talking with Coach Burton a couple of weeks ago. Neveah Bray, Jiana Lawson, Claire Forrest and Chelsey Harmon all entered and two have already found new homes. It was also surprising to see Carey Williams, the former All-WCC Libero, name pop up in the portal in Early Dec.

Jiana Lawson has committed to San Jose State - https://twitter.com/CVBTransfers/status/1477421909012844545?s=20

Chelsey Harmon has committed to Auburn following former teammate Liz Reich - https://twitter.com/CVBTransfers/status/1473805652841668624?s=20

BSleik wrote:Well plenty of players have now entered the Transfer Portal, which wasnt too much of a surprise when talking with Coach Burton a couple of weeks ago.

The coach is not surprised her players are leaving her?

With a record of 2-14 in WCC play, isn't the coach approaching Terry Porter territory?

It would seem UP needs a new volleyball coach

StudentPilot wrote: The coach is not surprised her players are leaving her?

With a record of 2-14 in WCC play, isn't the coach approaching Terry Porter territory?

It would seem UP needs a new volleyball coach

Everybody I've talked to when it comes to volleyball knows this has not been a coach issue. I would also pass along that Coach Burton took over just before the world got hit by Covid-19 and has yet to have a regular offseason to recruit and get her players. Megan is a 2x First Team All-WCC selection who knows the sport incredibly well but hasn't had a great hand to start. Talking with Megan she'll be the first to say she was disappointed with how the season ended especially with the promise of non-conference play to start the season. I trust her to push the team in the right direction compared to the previous regime in basketball.