Sacramento State volleyball took the first step toward an unprecedented eighth Big Sky Conference crown Saturday night, sweeping its first conference foe Northern Arizona 3-0 (30-18, 30-20, 30-17), in Flagstaff, Ariz.

If history is any indicator, this was also the Hornets’ eighth consecutive conference opener victory and Sac State (11-4, 1-0) has only lost one opener since joining the Big Sky in 1996. The Hornets also swept NAU (2-9, 0-1) in the opener last year at the Hornets’ Nest.

“Any win is a good win in conference,” said head coach Debby Colberg, who is in her 29th year on the Hornets’ sideline. “This is a good start for us on the road and I told the team to appreciate this victory because in the past NAU has been a tough place to get a win.

“This year NAU is a young team and not as tough as they’ve been in the past.”

The Lumberjacks were one of the reasons that the Hornets did not earn hosting rights for the Big Sky tournament last season as they took out Sac State in five games in the desert last season, knocking the Hornets two games behind eventual regular season champion Eastern Washington.

“This win is very important to us,” sophomore libero Kristin Lutes said. “Last year we took (NAU) lightly but this year we didn’t want to play down to them and we’re excited to start out conference play with a win.”

This time around newcomer Atlee Hubbard saw to it that there would be no fifth set. The sophomore transfer from Rhode Island led Sac State with nine kills and along with senior outside hitter Sandra Bandimere had 10 digs to anchor the defense.

“Since I didn’t know them coming in, I treated them like any other opponent,” Hubbard said. “They were intimidated from the beginning and we just ran with it and gained confidence.”

Junior outside hitter and Napa native Ellie Butterfield led the Lumberjacks offensively with a match-high 15 kills but the Hornets limited the Big Sky’s third most prolific outside hitter from a year ago to a .114 hitting percentage.

Sac State recorded 12 total blocks despite playing in just three games and were led by senior setter Stephanie Gamst’s five.

“Our blocking was there tonight and their hitters weren’t having a good night,” Gamst said. “The digging was there for us too which really helped.”

Sac State hit .276 while holding the Lumberjacks to a — .008 hitting percentage, it was just the second time this season the Hornets held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage (Seton Hall).

The Hornets now turn their attention to Montana State and Montana, where they will travel this week.

“Montana State always has a superb group of athletes, so we’ll have to play well especially on the road,” Colberg said.

As for the rest of conference play, even the newcomer seems to be confident with the Hornets’ chances.

“This win shows everyone in the conference that we mean business,” Hubbard said.