It has been over three years since the Sacramento State women’s volleyball team has lost a regular season conference match at Hornet Gym. Last Friday night against Northern Arizona University, they came within two points of kissing that streak goodbye.

Sac State has won 24 straight regular season conference matches at home. Their last loss was Oct. 14, 1999 against the University of Montana.

The Lumberjacks came into Friday’s match with an 8-13 record overall and a 4-5 record in the Big Sky Conference. NAU was not the team that was expected to jeopardize the win streak.

“They played better than we thought they would,” Hornet head coach Debby Colberg said of NAU.

Sac State defeated Northern Arizona, 3-2, in a grueling two-hour and 18-minute match, which was the longest of the season. Calling it an ugly win would be an understatement. The Hornets had just a .143 hitting percentage for the match and committed a season-high 35 errors.

Game No. 1 was a 30-26 win for the Hornets. The game was close before three consecutive Lumberjack errors gave Sac State the win. The Hornets held a 6.0-2.0 advantage in team blocks. Middle hitter Emily Wilson recorded three of her seven in the first game.

In game No. 2, NAU came back to tie the match with a 30-20 win. They elevated their hitting percentage from .227 to .333, and at one point held a 14-8 lead. Claire Robertson and Ellie Butterfield had five and four kills respectively, and Megan Van Anda had five digs.

The Hornets meanwhile, were paced by their outside hitters, Jayme Wright and Sandra Bandimere, who had four kills each. Colberg said game No. 2 stood out in her mind as the low point of the match.

“We just made some poor mistakes in the second game,” Colberg said. “They played great defense and they passed the ball really well.”

Sac State played better in the third game, raising their hitting percentage from .132 to .151, while NAU’s dropped from .333 to .075. Sac State continued to dominate in the block category, leading 11.0-7.0 after game No. 3. Wright had seven kills and four digs and the Hornets won 30-26.

“We blocked a lot of balls in that game, and Ali (Mathewson’s) serve was instrumental,” Colberg said.

Mathewson, an outside hitter, took over as the server with the Hornets leading 4-1. By the time NAU wrestled the serve away from her, the score was 9-2.

“After the second game, we just stepped it up and had fun out there,” Wright said of the turnaround. It would however, be short-lived.

In the fourth game, the hitting percentage continued to fluctuate. Sac State’s dropped to .125, while NAU’s shot back up to .261. The Lumberjacks took the game, 30-26, thanks to four kills from Rebecca Wooden, seven digs from Chelsea Rob, and six from Van Anda.

Wright had four kills and six digs for the Hornets. Bandimere contributed three kills and two blocks, while defensive specialist Mallory Hook had five digs.

The Hornets won the fifth and final game 15-13. They committed just three errors to NAU’s six. Wright finished the match with a match-high 21 kills, along with 16 digs for her third straight double-double.

Bandimere and middle hitter Kazmiera Imrie also had double figures in kills. In addition to Wright’s 16, three other Hornets had double figures in digs. Mathewson led with 18, and setter Lisa Beauchene had 16 to go with 46 assists, for a double-double of her own.

The Hornets as a team finished with a 17.0-14.0 advantage in blocks. Four players had at least four blocks. Imrie led with eight and Wilson was right behind her with seven.

With the win, Sac State remained one game behind Eastern Washington University in the Big Sky Conference standings.

Earlier in the week, Sac State traveled to Santa Clara University to take on the No.12 ranked Broncos. The Hornets were defeated 3-1. Becky Potter had a match-high 26 kills to go with 15 digs, as well as a match high .444 hitting percentage.

Four other Broncos had double figures in kills and three had double figures in digs, led by Cindy Hirsch’s 20.

The Hornets were led by Wright who had 15 kills and 19 digs. Bandimere and Imrie also finished with double figures in kills, while Beauchene and Hook had double figures in digs.

Sac State hosted Saint Mary’s University in a non-conference game yesterday, but results were not available before presstime.