Home sweet Hornets’ Nest.

Yosemite Hall has always been good to Sacramento State volleyball throughout the years, but the field of this year’s Sacramento State Invitational found out just how well the Hornets’ defend their home court over the weekend.

The Hornets won the second annual Sacramento State Invitational, winning all four matches they played in three-game sweeps against Charlotte, Seton Hall, San Jose State and Oregon, respectively.

Sacramento State senior outside hitter and Sandra Bandimere garnered her second tournament Most Valuable Player award of the season. She also won the honor at the Nanook Volleyball Classic in Anchorage, Ala., averaging 4.67 kills and 4.33 digs per game for the tourney. Bandimere also moved into 10th place in the Hornets’ record book and now has 1,143 career kills.

“You have to be impressed with Sandra Bandimere,” Hornets’ head coach Debby Colberg said. “None of the teams this weekend had an answer for her.”

Sac State seniors, setter Stephanie Gamst and middle hitter Emily Wilson joined Bandimere on the all-tournament team. Gamst averaged 12.50 assists per game and Wilson hit a team-high .478 over four matches and tallying just three errors and now leads the Hornets in percentage on the year with a .342 mark.

“It feels great to be named all-tournament,” Gamst said. “I played really well this weekend and so did the team, we really came together and were able to trust each other.”

Sac State met Oregon in the final match of the round-robin tournament and by virtue of both team’s records, the winner would be crowned champion.

In game one against the Ducks, Wilson, who hit a career-high .611 tallying 11 kills and no errors in 18 attacks for the match, served out the final five straight points en route to 30-25 Hornet victory.

“We did things well in the beginning of game one, but we didn’t sustain it,” Oregon head coach Carl Ferreira said. “We didn’t keep the pressure on them and the last thing you want to do is give the home team momentum.”

The Hornets got better as the match went along as Gamst posted more assists in game two than game one (14-13). Bandimere had more kills in game two than game one (7-5) and Sac State hit .341 in game two compared with .289 in game one.

“It feels good to get these wins,” Colberg said. “Even though in a few months no one will care that we won this tournament, the wins and the experience stay with us.”

Sac State carried over its momentum from the previous night’s sweeps of Seton Hall and Charlotte, sweeping San Jose State in its early match Saturday.

Bandimere led the Hornets in every way in game two versus the Spartans. Sac State’s captain continued her hot hitting from game one, digging up nine potential Spartan points and dropping eight kills, including the final four consecutive points in the Hornets’ 30-22 victory.

“I feel like I found my game today,” said Bandimere, who ended the match with a double-double (20 kills, 21 digs), to go along with a match-high .362 hitting percentage. “I had been struggling through the first day and I knew I needed to step up and play better.”

Gamst’s steady setting also aided Sac State as four Hornets comprising Hubbard (eight), Wilson (eight), sophomore middle hitter Shannon Arts (10) and Bandimere (21) tallied at least eight kills. Gamst collected 45 total assists, easily a match-high.

“Stephanie set a nice game for us and set the ball in good places for our hitters,” Colberg said.

The Hornets went 2-0 on the first day of the tournament, defeating UNC-Charlotte and Seton Hall.

Despite hitting .223, the Hornets won their first match of the weekend in a sweep, 3-0 (30-26, 30-24, 30-22) and limited Charlotte (8-3) to a .176 hitting percentage, forcing 20 attack errors by the 49ers.

“Our ‘A-game’ wasn’t there in this match but Sac State tends to force that on a lot of teams,” Charlotte head coach Lisa Marston said. “(Sac State) is a team that’s used to winning and they kept us out of system all match long.”

A few hours later, the alumnae started to file in to watch one of their own, Maureen Rafferty Del Rossi coach her Seton Hall squad against her former mentor Colberg.

Sac State did not relinquish the lead in the frame and Bandimere had more kills than all the Pirates combined with six as Seton Hall put up five kills in the entire set.

“We weren’t as consistent as (Sac State),” Rafferty Del Rossi said. “We’re a young team whereas they’re a more experienced team.”

Sac State hit .295 for the match, their highest mark in a week, while limiting the Pirates to a .018 hitting percentage. Five Hornets hit at least .333 comprising Wilson (.533), sophomore outside hitter Atlee Hubbard (.440), junior outside hitter Shannon Arts (.412), sophomore outside hitter Shannon Roland (.375) and senior outside hitter Jackie Coudert (.333).