Eastern Washington University?s volleyball team sure picked the right time to snap a losing streak.

For the past five years, the Eagles dropped seven straight matches to Sacramento State, including two defeats ending in sweeps in the regular season this year.

Sac State, heavily favored to capture the Big Sky Conference tournament championship, came into Saturday?s league finals match with the No. 1 seed and the home crowd behind it. But the No. 3 Eagles were not intimidated, as they shocked onlookers at Hornet Gym and Sac State with a 3-1 (28-30,30-22, 30-25, 30-27) victory to claim the Big Sky crown and a free ride to the NCAA tournament, which begins next Thursday (Nov. 29). The Hornets, meanwhile, will have to wait until Monday (Nov. 26) at noon, when the at-large bids for the 64-team NCAA Championships will be announced.

“I don’t trust the NCAA,” said Hornet head coach Debby Colberg, adding that the team’s chances of getting in are at 25 percent.

The Hornet loss Saturday comes on the heels of another tough game against Montana State University, which was eliminated from the playoffs Friday 25-30, 25-30, 23-30 by Sac State.

“Overall I thought we played two tough teams in Montana State and tonight,” Colberg said. “This team did not break down, and hits that may have worked last year did not work this time.”

Against Eastern Washington, Sac State battled through a competitive first game in which there were five lead changes. The Eagles had a chance to put it away with a 28-26 lead, but the Hornets managed to score four unanswered points to claim the first set.

Down two games to one, Sac State continued to struggle at the net, falling behind 8-3 in the early going. But the Hornets eventually clawed their way back in the game, tying the score at 18.With a 27-27 tie, however, the Eagles sealed the conference championship behind two straight Janelle Ruen kills.

Ruen was second on her squad with 18 kills while teammate Robyn Felder led the way with 19. The Eagles outhit the Hornets on the attack with a .316 hitting percentage to the host team?s .199. They also outdug Sac State 97-79 as Ruen tallied a match-best 24 digs.

Sac State was led by Tasman Dwyer?s 16 kills and Jayme Wright?s 13. Wright also finished with a team-high 21 digs. Kazmiera Imrie contributed 10. Both Dwyer and Wright were awarded 2001 All-Big Sky Tournament honors. Ruen and Felder also made the all-tourney team.

Hornets overall record to 20-9 overall. The Eagles extended their record to 20-5 on the season.