PORTLAND, Ore. – University of Portland Volleyball has announced their schedule for the 2023 season. This year's schedule features four regular season tournaments, as well as a competitive WCC slate.
"I'm very excited for our upcoming Fall 2023 indoor season. We have a young roster coming into the fall but we return a freshman class that earned a lot of experience from the 2022 season," Portland head coach Megan Burton said. "I built our pre-season schedule to build confidence, get a lot of experience against different types of teams and earn quality wins. The level of our pre-season tournaments will be a nice gradual climb in competitive level."
The Pilots's first two tournaments will be on the road this season, starting with the Sam Houston State University Invitational in Houston, Texas. Day 1, Aug. 25th, of the tournament will see the Pilots face off against Corpus Christi and Nicholls State. On Day 2, Aug. 26th, the Pilots will take on the tournament hosts, Sam Houston State University. Corpus Christi had an overall record of 13-20, while Nicholls State had a record of 7-23 for the 2022 Season. The hosting team, Sam Houston State, finished their 2022 campaign off with a record of 8-20.
The Pilots' next tournament will be the Sacramento State Invitational, where they will be returning as the defending champions. The Pilots went undefeated in the tournament last year defeating Middle Tennessee State, University of Nevada Reno and Sacramento State. This year, the Pilots will take on San Jose State, Cal State Fullerton and Sacramento State. The first two matches will take place on Day 1 of the tournament which will be on Sept. 1st, while the Pilots' match against Sacramento State will take place Sept. 2nd. San Jose State had a particularly strong season last year, finishing off with an overall record of 21-9. The other two competitors, Cal State Fullerton and Sacramento State finished off with records of 13-15 and 15-15, respectively.
The Pilots will return home for their third tournament as they host the University of Portland Invitational. The Pilots will face off against University of Wyoming, Cal State Northridge and Eastern Washington. The Pilots will face off against one opponent per day during the tournament starting with University of Wyoming on Sept. 7th, Cal State Northridge on Sept. 8th, and Eastern Washington on Sept. 9th. Wyoming finished off their 2022 season with a record of 10-20, CSUN finished up with 9-23 and Eastern Washington concluded their season with 11-18.
The final regular season tournament of the season will be the UNLV Invitational, hosted by University of Nevada Las Vegas. The Pilots will take on Coppin State, UNLV and Lamar University. Each day of the tournament will feature one match starting on Sept. 14th and finishing on Sept. 16th. Coppin State had a strong 2022 campaign finishing off with 23-11, qualifying for the NCAA Championship Tournament. UNLV finished with an overall record of 26-5, also qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
"We'll be traveling three weekends to Texas, Northern California & Las Vegas for solid tournaments. We're looking forward to opening up in the Chiles center with our home tournament in September. We host three solid teams, CSUN, Wyoming & Eastern Washington and they'll all be coming to the Bluff ready to push our squad. Our pre-season will nicely prepare us for West Coast Conference play. Every match is a battle against nationally revered squads and we love it that way. Conference is a dog fight and we know we've got to show up every match ready to fight & compete. We'll be young, but we'll be hungry and ready to go. Make sure to come out and support your Pilots in Chiles every Thursday night and Saturday afternoon!"
Conference play begins for the Pilotos on Sept. 21st with a match hosted by Santa Clara University. While the Pilots are in California, they will play another match hosted by University of San Francisco. From there, the Pilots will host their first two home conference matches with Loyola Marymount University and University of San Diego on Sept. 28 and Sept. 30th, respectively. The Tereos achieved a 31-2 record last season, earning their spot in the Final Four at the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by No. 1 Texas.
The month of October will see the Pilots face off against Pepperdine on Oct. 8th, at home. From there, the Pilots will return to the road to compete against University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. on Oct. 12th. On Oct. 14th, the Pilots will head to Moraga, Calif. to face St. Mary's College, followed by one last stop in San Diego, Calif. on Oct. 19th for a rematch against San Diego. The month will finish off with three home matches on Oct. 21st, 26th and 28th. These matches will be against Gonzaga University, University of San Francisco and Santa Clara University, respectively.
The final month of competition, November, will begin with a road match against Loyola Marymount University on Nov. 2nd. While in Southern California, the Pilots will take on Pepperdine University. Each team qualified for the NCAA Tournament last fall with LMU recording an 18-10 overall record, and Pepperdine 19-11. From there, the Pilots will host two home matches on Nov. 9th and 11th, where they will face off against University of the Pacific and St. Mary's. The Pilots' conference season will conclude on Nov. 16th in Spokane, Wash. against Gonzaga.
See the full schedule below. For more coverage and info, visit PortlandPilots.com.
2023 UP VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE
Sam Houston State University Invitational
Aug 25 vs. Corpus Christi, 9:30 AM
Aug 25 vs. Nicholls State, 12 PM
Aug 26 vs. Sam Houston State, 9 AM
Sacramento State Invitational
Sept. 1 vs. San Jose State University, 10 AM
Sept. 1 vs. Cal State Fullerton, 5 PM
Sept. 2 vs. Sacramento State, 12:30 PM
University of Portland Invitational
Sept. 7 vs. Wyoming, 6 PM
Sept. 8 vs. Cal State Northridge, 6 PM
Sept. 9 vs. Eastern Washington, 1:30 PM
UNLV Invitational
Sept. 14 vs. Coppin St., 3 PM
Sept. 15 vs. UNLV, 6:30 PM
Sept. 16 vs. Lamar, 10 AM
Conference Play
Sept. 21 vs. Santa Clara University, 6 PM
Sept. 23 vs. University of San Francisco, 1 PM
Sept. 28 vs. Loyola Marymount University, 6 PM
Sept. 30 vs. University of San Diego, 1 PM
Oct. 7 vs. Pepperdine University, 1 PM
Oct. 12 vs. University of the Pacific, 6 PM
Oct. 14 vs. Saint Mary's College, 1 PM
Oct. 19 vs. University of San Diego, 7 PM
Oct. 21 vs. Gonzaga University, 1 PM
Oct. 26 vs. University of San Francisco, 6 PM
Oct. 28 vs. Santa Clara University, 1 PM
Nov. 2 vs. Loyola Marymount University, 7 PM
Nov. 4 vs. Pepperdine University, 12 PM
Nov. 9 vs. University of the Pacific, 6 PM
Nov. 11 vs. St. Mary's College, 1 PM
Nov. 16 at Gonzaga University, 6 PM
LEGEND
Bold indicates home match
Italics indicates WCC Match
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