There seems to be a recurring theme around Sacramento State.

The volleyball team clinched its fifth consecutive Big Sky Conference regular season championship Friday on senior night, breezing past second place Eastern Washington University, 30-17, 30-26 and 30-23.

The Hornets prepared for the post season Saturday by defeating last place Portland State University, 30-21, 22-30, 30-24 and 30-19, completing a 19-8, 12-2 volleyball season.

Friday?s win enabled the Hornets to secure the No. 1 seed in the Big Sky Conference tournament, marking the first time in Big Sky history that a team has won five championships in a row.

Sac State will open tournament play Friday night.

The Hornets earned a bye in the first round, which will begin Thursday.

Seniors Kelly Voeltz, Alison Gahr and Tasman Dwyer were honored for their contributions to the program before the match as they were welcomed by a wild crowd of 459 fans.

“I?m so happy, but at the same time I?m sad,” Voeltz said after contributing eight digs on the night.

“I just don?t know what I?m going to do with myself after volleyball. I?ve had tons of fun this year; it will be hard to let go.”

Sac State did not let go of the Big Sky title Friday.

The Hornets dominated early and often, jumping out to a 15-8 lead and then cruised down the stretch, closing out game one 30-17.

The Hornets made it look so easy that some forgot Washington was the second best team in the league.

“What?s so amazing is that we did not even play our ?A? game,” head coach Debby Colberg said. “We came out and played really well in the first game, but in games two and three, we made a lot of mistakes. (Eastern Washington) just did not play well tonight. I expect them to play a lot better next week.”

The Sac State offense was on target as the Hornets hit .302 for the match and tallied 54 kills.

Junior Jayme Wright led the way, hitting .393 with 13 kills and 12 digs as sophomore Kazmiera Imrie totaled 10 kills with a .304 hitting percentage. Gahr hit .368 with nine kills and Dwyer ended the contest with 11 kills.

The festive and emotional evening definitely played a part in the Hornets? strong performance, according to Colberg.

“The team definitely had a lot of incentive to win, with first place on the line and it being senior night,” she said. “The effort alone atoned for some of our mistakes, and the underclassmen didn?t want the seniors to lose.”

Against Portland State, five Hornet players recorded double figures in kills as sophomore Lisa Beauchene had an outstanding game with 13 kills, 51 assists, seven digs and a .867 hitting percentage ? the second best mark in school history.

Beauchene had plenty of help as Gahr and Wright ended with 12 kills, and Dwyer and Imrie tallied 11.

“The numbers are nice, but first and foremost we won,” Colberg said. “Sometimes when you have everything in hand ? in this case the championship ? you relax, but we didn?t.”

Colberg had the luxury of emptying the bench, allowing the reserves to see some quality action.

Sac State held Portland State (4-16, 1-13) to a .182 hitting percentage

and led the Vikings in kills (64-49), assists (66-43) and digs (50-44).The next mission for the Hornets is to earn a fifth consecutive NCAA tournament bid, which begins Nov. 29.

“I hope that the players feel we have room for improvement,” Colberg said. “We have an opportunity to do some great things as long as we don?t sit on our laurels.”

Added Voeltz, “Everyone is after us. We must step up our game and play smart, mistake-free, volleyball. If we do that, we will go on to the tournament.”