Before they defeated Eastern Washington to advance to the NCAA Tournament, the Hornets had to get by Montana State on Nov. 17, and it wasn’t easy.

It took five games (11-15, 15-6, 12-15, 15-9, 15-10), 85 kills, 100 digs, and two hours and twenty minutes of hard play for the Hornets to prevail over Montana State on Friday. Despite the win over Montana State, head coach Debby Colberg was not full of praise, realizing that her team may have lost if the game were not at Hornet Gym.

“If we were not in this gym, with these fans, we would have lost,” Colberg said after the nail-biting victory against Montana State on Friday. “I was not pleased with how we played tonight, we made a lot of errors.”

The errors, 14 of which were service, were attributed to nerves and attitude.

“We didn’t play up,” Sarah Chlebana said. “We weren’t jelling as a team.”

Esther Rogers had a nice match, posting two aces and double figures with 17 kills and digs. Joining her in the double figure club Friday night were Jayme Wright with 15 kills and 17 digs, freshman Lisa Beauchene with 12 kills and 15 digs, and Chlebana with 11 kills and 12 digs. Freshman Kazmeira Imrie stepped up her game and added six kills, 13 digs and three aces.

‘They are amazing, and they are a major part of this team,” Rogers said about the performance by the freshmen.

The Bobcats came out and defeated the number one Hornets in game one, 15-11.

Montana State then started off game two with an ace. Sac State began to regroup and with an ace by Imrie, the Hornets pulled ahead, 6-1. Sac State continued to dominate, and held the lead for the rest of the game. Kelly Voeltz added an ace, and killed the final point, and the Hornets took game two 15-6, giving each team a game a piece in the match. The only thing really missing from game two was Chlebana.

“She has a bad sprained ankle and we tried to use her sparingly,” Colberg said about Chlebana’s game two absence.

Games three and four were close battles, with each team posting parallel scores. The intensity and the noise from the stands increased by the moment. Game three went to the visiting Bobcats (15-12), while game four was taken by the Hornets (15-9).

Finally in game five, the Hornets proved why they are the conference champs.

Beauchene started off the game, and the Hornets jumped out to an early lead. Montana State quickly tied the score at four points, but that was the last time they would come close to the Hornets.

With the shouting fans behind them, the Hornets dominated game five, eliminating the Bobcats from competition in the tournament.

The team and coach Colberg attribute the win to the fan support. Most of the 437 in attendance were cheering for the hometown Hornets.

“It didn’t matter if we were behind five or six points, they were still there…you could totally feel it,” Rogers said.

After the win, the Hornets went on to defeat Eastern Washington in three games the next day, earning the Big Sky Tournament Championship for the third time in three years.