The Sacramento State women’s volleyball team will face Stanford University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Palo Alto, Calif.

Sac State ended the regular season with a 24-10 record , going 7-1 in their last eight matches and winning the Big Sky Conference Tournament.

“We feel fortunate to have won the Big Sky with this team as young as they are,” Hornet head coach Debby Colberg said. “We knew that with the 10 losses, we probably weren’t going to be seeded very high.”

Stanford enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed in the region, the No. 2 seed overall and the defending national champions.

They have dominated the all-time series with Sac State, winning all six matches between the schools. In fact, Stanford has rarely even lost a game to the Hornets, let alone a match. They lead in that department, 16-2. In their last meeting, Stanford swept Sac State 3-0. The highlight of that match was the third game, which ended at 38-36.

This year figures to be just as difficult as in the past. In addition to being the defending champion, Stanford boasts a 27-4 overall record and a No. 4 ranking in the USA Today/AVCA poll.

They bring plenty of firepower to the court to go along with the list of accolades.

Outside hitter Logan Tom averaged nearly five kills per game despite playing in a shortened season because of her commitments to the U.S. National Team.

Middle blocker Sara McGee, a graduate of Davis High School, and outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani carry their fair share of the team as well, averaging 3.11 and 4.01 kills per game, respectively.

The Hornets will counter with outside hitters Sandra Bandimere and Jayme Wright, who both averaged just over three kills per game in the regular season. Setter Lisa Beauchene will also be a threat. She averaged a .363 hitting percentage and nearly 11 assists per game to lead the team.

“We are not going there just to enjoy playing the match,” Colberg said. “We want to go and play the best volleyball we can. If they outplay us, we can be satisfied that we played as well as we could. If they don’t outplay us, maybe we win.”

Sac State has reached the NCAA tournament in five of the last six years. Their only win came in 1998 at the expense of the University of Houston, who the Hornets defeated 3-0.

If the Hornets can upset the Cardinal and advance to the second round, they will take on the winner of the University of Nevada vs. University of Pacific.

This season, Sac State faced seven teams that qualified for this year’s tournament. They went 2-5 in those matches.

The University of Eastern Washington, whose only two losses of the season were to the Hornets, did not qualify for the tournament.