The Sacramento State volleyball team continued to live on the edge, as it defeated the Big Sky Conference preseason favorite Northern Arizona University in five games (27-30, 24-30, 30-24, 30-23, 15-11) at Hornet Gym Saturday night.

The Hornets were again down 0-2 before they were able to get their games in gear.”We get behind like this every year, so we are used to it,” head coach Debby Colberg said. “I don?t know why we start slowly. I can?t seem to put my finger on it. The only positive thing about the whole situation was that we didn?t panic.”

Sac State used its size and defense to improve its record to 8-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play, while NAU fell to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the Big Sky.

The Hornets were led by 5-foot-10 junior Jayme Wright, who tallied 16 kills and 19 digs, and 2000 all-conference performer senior Tasman Dwyer, who added 15 kills and seven blocks.

“Jayme really picked up her play and made up for some early errors,” Colberg said.

Sac State won the match on the strength of their defense. NAU hit just .185 for the match and were outblocked by the Hornets 14-11. The Lumberjacks were still able to grab a 2-0 lead thanks to Sac State?s inability to generate offense early on. Sac State hit only .153 for the match and totaled 62 kills, five less than their counterparts.

With resiliency and timely offensive execution on their side, the Hornets battled back, winning the third and fourth games, 30-24 and 30-23 respectively.

“At this point, we basically said to ourselves, ?look, we?re down 0-2, we have nothing to lose, let?s just play as hard as we can and see what happens,?” Colberg said.

In game three, Sac State got off to a commanding 17-9 lead as senior Kelly Voeltz had six kills in the period to hold off the Lumberjacks? comeback.

“Game three becomes the biggest game because you lose this one and the match is over,” Colberg said. “You look for your experienced players to come through for you when the chips are down, and Kelly did.”

Game four was much of the same as the Hornets took advantage of the Lumberjacks? .80 hitting percentage. Sac State closed the game on a 7-2 run led by Wright?s four kills.

In the fifth and decisive game, the Hornets never trailed. Sac State finally solved some of their offensive shortcomings, hitting their game-high .292 and recording 10 kills.

Sac State jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead, but NAU managed to tie the score 6-6 after reeling off four points in a row. From there, the Hornets opened up a lead they would never relinquish and rode it home to a 15-11 win.

The win was huge in that the two-preseason favorites were fighting for Big Sky supremacy early in the season, and Colberg expects Northern Arizona to be at the top half of the conference later in the year.

“They (NAU) will be heard form again. They have a ton of home games in the second half of the season,” Colberg said.

The Hornets will play host to both Montana State University Friday at 7 p.m., and the University of Montana on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Sac State is in the midst of their longest home stand, playing six of the next eight games in Hornet Gym.