The Sacramento State women’s volleyball team went 1-1 last week, but kept its goal of reaching the postseason well within its sight.

The week began on a sour note as Sac State was swept 3-0 at Hornet Gym by the University of the Pacific Tigers on Oct. 1. The Hornets rebounded however to beat Northern Arizona University three games to one.

The Hornets hung tough in the first game against Pacific, but were dominated in the final two, giving Pacific the win.

The first game, which ended in a 30-28 Pacific victory, was close through the first 11 points. Sac State was then able to open up a 15-11 lead thanks to two service errors by Pacific’s Ashley Groothius. Pacific then made their own run, tying the game at 18.

The game was again tied at 20, before Sac State committed one of 12 errors in the game to give Pacific a 23-20 lead that they never relinquished.

In the second game, Megan Hauschild’s five kills gave Pacific a 10-5 lead. Sac State got within 11-9, but Pacific won the next six points to put the lead into their hands for good.

The Hornets committed 11 more errors and their hitting percentage dropped to .091.

The third game of the match was controlled by Pacific, who led 22-9 and responded to a late Hornet rally to close the match.

Sophomore outside hitter Sandra Bandimere had 15 kills to lead the Hornets. Senior outside hitter Jayme Wright had 11 kills and freshman defensive specialist Mallory Hook had 10 digs.

All-American Jennifer Joines had 19 kills and 10 digs for Pacific. Hauschild contributed 13 kills and eight digs.

“We don’t really have anyone that can compare to [Joines],” Hornet coach Debby Colberg said. “But we weren’t intimidated by them. We just didn’t compete like we needed to.”

The Hornets were back on the court again on Friday when they traveled to Flagstaff, Ariz. for a Big Sky Conference match against the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks.

NAU came into the match with a 6-9 overall record, and a 2-9 record against Sac State in the schools’ last 11 meetings.

Colberg, who has pointed out on several occasions that this year could be considered a rebuilding year for her program, said that NAU is in the same boat.

“They’ve got eight new players and a new coach, so this is really a rebuilding year for them,” Colberg said.

Though the teams were probably mismatched on paper, it did not appear that way on the court — at least not at first. After a bit of a slow start, Sac State got back into the win column.

The first game went into overtime. Sac State won the game 32-30, but the win was not pretty. They committed 14 hitting errors and had a .000 hitting percentage.

Game two was the only loss in the match for the Hornets, who committed 12 hitting errors to NAU’s two, en route to a 22-30 loss.

“We had a lot of hitting errors in the first two games,” Colberg said. “Twenty-two of their first 47 points were on our hitting errors.”

Sac State did not panic, however. Instead, they remained patient and let the match come to them.

“Volleyball is such a game of momentum,” Colberg said. “We knew we were the better team and we knew if we hung in there long enough, the momentum would start going our way.”

Indeed, the momentum did turn Sac State’s way, as they won game three by a score of 30-12. They committed only two errors and their hitting percentage improved from .036 to .500.

In game four, Sac State’s hitting percentage dropped to .270, but they held NAU to a -.031 hitting percentage, enabling them to win 30-19.

“After the first two games, our confidence seemed to come back,” Colberg said. “Lisa [Beauchene] served really well and Sandra [Bandimere] just pounded the ball.”

Beauchene, who is normally the team’s setter, was deadly with her serve, getting four service aces to go with 17 digs and 49 assists. Bandimere finished with 17 kills.

Sophomore middle hitter Emily Wilson was perhaps the biggest surprise for the Hornets, getting 13 kills to go with a team-high .391 hitting percentage.

“Emily did better (against NAU) than she has in a long time. We need our middles to perform because they open up the outside for the kills. She did that for us,” Colberg said.

Wright had a strong game with 10 kills and 14 digs. Sophomore setter Stephanie Gamst, junior outside hitter Ali Mathewson and Hook all finished with double figures in digs.

Sac State goes back out on the road next weekend as they head up north to face the Montana State University on Friday and the University of Montana on Saturday.