Sacramento State sand volleyball defeated San Jose State 4-1 in the Hornets’ first home match of the season today at the Sacramento Softball Complex.

The victory improved Sac State to 2-2 on the year.

Sac State coach Jason Borchin said the team showed signs of improvement in the win.

“We definitely got better from last weekend,” Borchin said. “I thought we had a great week of practice, especially with working on attacking, so I was really happy with how mostly all of our teams were attacking the ball today.”

The Hornets won the No. 4 and No. 5 pairings in simultaneous play to open up the match 2-0, as juniors Lauren Aikels and Lauren Kissell of Sac State defeated Breann Robinson and Julie Sam of San Jose State by a score of 21-11, 15-21, 15-11. On the other court, Brigitte Murdock and Kennedy Kurtz beat Sara Hibbs and Samantha Pereira in straight sets, 21-12, 21-10.

No. 3 pair Lexie Skalbeck and Shannon Boyle ended their individual match with a quick 21-17, 21-8 victory.

Skalbeck spoke on the key to the pair’s success.

“Just focusing on technique is the biggest thing,” Skalbeck said. “We just got a little bit out of control for a quick second, but we got it together and we started shotting really well.”

With the No. 3 pair winning, the Hornets clinched the overall match with a 3-0 mark, but the contest, nonetheless, continued as the No. 1 and No. 2 pairings took the courts.

Sac State’s No. 1 pair was the only duo to lose their matchup, as senior Kayla Beal and junior Sloan Lovett fell 18-21, 21-15, 13-15 in a tightly fought three-set contest that closed out the day.

“I think our serve receive got really well toward the end of the match,” Lovett said. “I think we had a couple nervous jitters in the beginning, but I think we picked it up toward the end. We took control, but we just let them get away.”

Borchin named unforced errors as a big factor in the final pair’s loss.

“Unfortunately, they played hard, but we just made too many errors on our side of the net,” Borchin said. “We’ve got to control our side of the net a little bit better than we did.”

Lovett tallied 18 total kills but had 10 errors in three sets. Her partner Beal had four aces in the match.

The No. 2 matchup, which finished a few minutes before the No. 1 pairing, was a tight one as well, as Morgan Stanley and Madeline Cannon edged out San Jose State’s Jamie Hirai and Allison Meehan by a final of 21-19, 19-21, 15-11. Cannon lived up to her name with a team-high 20 kills and seven aces.

“Overall, I just think every team worked really hard each point and gave our full effort every point,” Skalbeck said. “And just, communication is really key, with knowing where to shot, and just talking to your partner. And I felt like we did a really good job at that today.”

The sand volleyball squad will continue its season with matches against University of Pacific and Saint Mary’s College at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, on March 21 at the Sacramento Softball Complex.