The Sacramento State volleyball team impressed going 2-1 last week, falling only to the 16th ranked Brigham Young University Cougars 3-1 (28-30, 30-18, 30-21, 30-28) on Thursday night at Hornet Gym.

The Hornets, 16-6 overall and 9-1 in the Big Sky Conference, played No. 4 Standford Tuesday at Maples Pavillion. Results and statistics were not available by presstime.

Sac State began the week with a 3-1 (28-30, 30-21, 30-20, 30-19) victory over the University of Nevada Tuesday night at home and capped off its busy schedule with a sweep (30-27-, 30-22, 30-23) of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The win against the University of Nevada allowed the Hornets to enter the BYU contest red hot with eight consecutive victories. The Cougars came into the contest having lost two straight and three of their last five matches. Nevertheless, BYU entered with a 12-4 record and a No. 16 ranking in the USA Today/AVCA Div. I poll.

Sac State outplayed the Cougars in game one, winning 28-30. The Hornets were able to find holes in the Cougars blocking schemes, capitalizing on miscommunication and slow defensive rotations. BYU had an obvious size advantage at the net, but were able to do nothing with it in game one. Sac State hit .295 in game one and blocked six kill attempts holding the Cougars to a .239 hitting percentage.

The Cougars began to assert themselves offensively and defensively in game two as their size began to take hold. BYU blocked three shots and held Sac State to a game low .108 hitting percentage. The Cougars got rolling offensively, hitting .412 for the game as they won going away 30-18.

“You know, we made the same amount of errors in game one as we did in game two,” Hornets head coach Debby Colberg said. “It was just (BYU) picking up their games and taking advantage of our errors. They passed and served a lot better in game two.”

Game three was much of the same as the Cougars hit .361 and held the Hornets to a .128 hitting percentage while winning 30-21. The Hornets came close in game four, eventually falling 28-30.

“We let their size get into our heads. I thought we got a little intimidated when they began to block our shots,” Colberg said. “I think we lost some confidence there in game two and could never regain focus. We needed to cut down on some errors.”

BYU outblocked the Hornets 14-12 and held Sac State to a .143 hitting percentage for the match.Tasman Dwyer was all smiles after the contest as she led the Hornets with 18 kills and a .400 hitting percentage.

“We have nothing to hang our heads about; we took them to four games,” Dwyer said. “We had a lot of fun and this was good experience for us if we get into the NCAAs. We don’t play teams of this caliber in our conference, and most of the teams in the NCAA have this size. Our effort in this match will take us a long way into the tournament, trust me.”

Jayme Wright, who was the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week last week, led the charge against Nevada by recording a match-high 19 kills, hitting .350. Senior Tasman Dwyer hit .440 along with 13 kills. Sac State hit .344 for the match as four Hornets hit above .300.

After dropping the first game 28-30, Sac State turned up the heat defensively and blew away the Wolf Pack, holding Nevada to a .128 hitting percentage. The Hornets dominated at the net, outblocking Nevada 15-7. Dwyer and sophomore Kazmiera Imrie each had seven blocks while Wright, sophomore Lisa Beauchene and senior Kelly Voeltz finished with 14 digs.

“We established ourselves at the net after the first game,” Colberg said. “Our offense was OK all night, it was just a matter of us playing better defense.”

Following the loss to BYU, Sac State quickly got back on the winning track Saturday night sweeping through one of the top teams in the Big Sky Conference ? Northern Arizona.The win widened Sac States’ lead over second place Eastern Washington University by two games with four matches to play.Wright led the Hornets hitting .375 with 13 kills and senior Alison Gahr added 11 kills, 16 digs and nine assists. Sac State held the advantage in kills, 52-44, and digs, 64-58. The Hornets hit .221 for the match while holding NAU to a .148 hitting percentage.

“We played OK,” Colberg said. “I thought a lot of it was their mistakes. They committed a lot of errors and didn’t serve very well.”

With two road contests awaiting Sac State, Colberg warns not to get too excited about the prospects of a fifth consecutive Big Sky Championship.

“I’ve coached in this league way too long and I’ve seen a lot of teams lose the championship in the last week of the season. We will stay cautious.”