Sacramento State volleyball began the second half of conference play Saturday night the same way it started the first half — with a sweep of Northern Arizona.

The Hornets swept NAU in Flagstaff, Ariz. back on Sept. 25 led by sophomore outside hitter Atlee Hubbard’s nine kills and 10 digs. This time around it was Hubbard again pacing the Hornets (17-6, 6-2 Big Sky) with 11 kills, a .310 hitting percentage 13 digs and four blocks in a 3-0 (30-16, 30-17, 30-26) victory in front of 602 fans, the fourth 600-plus person crowd at the Hornets Nest this year.

Four Hornets comprising match-leader junior libero Mallory Hook (14), Hubbard (13) senior outside hitter Sandra Bandimere (13) and senior setter Stephanie Gamst (12) were in double figures in digs to lead a Sac State defense that held the Lumberjacks to a .085 hitting percentage for the match.

“I was very pleased with the defense we played in games one and two in particular,” head coach Debby Colberg said. “Sandra in particular played great defense tonight.”

Sac State had 22 digs in game one compared with the Lumberjacks’ 12 and never trailed. The Hornets also committed just one attack error compared to NAU’s nine; Bandimere and Hubbard both hit .600 in the game to lead their team to an easy 30-16 victory.

“With me it’s a mindset,” Hubbard, who has been a streaky player all season, said. “I admit that in the past motivation and being aggressive has been a problem, but after (tonight) I’m sure I can stay aggressive.”

Hubbard was plenty aggressive in game two, dropping five of her 11 kills on twelve attacks to lead Sac State to a 30-17 victory and a two-game edge going into intermission.

In game three NAU committed its fewest attack errors in a single game (seven) and hit a much improved .146 to make the Hornets work harder for a victory. The Lumberjacks led by as many as five points at 17-12 led by the hot hitting of junior outside hitter and Napa native Ellie Butterfield, who had five of her nine total kills in the third game.

Hubbard then took over leading the Hornets with three kills a block, an ace and taking advantage of eight NAU errors in an 18-9 run to close out the Lumberjacks 30-26 and take the match with the last point coming on a combo block featuring her and freshman middle hitter Lindsay Haupt.

Haupt had eight kills with no errors in 15 attacks for a .533 hitting percentage to go along with three blocks.

“It’s hard to get up for some teams because the pace of the game can throw you off,” Haupt said. “Then you start to get lazy because it’s just human nature to and that’s when the other team can make runs on you.”

The Lumberjacks were led by Katy Knowlton’s 10 kills and Kelly Verboom’s 26 assists.

The Hornets are next in action next Tuesday Oct. 26 at UC Davis in Causeway Cup competition at 7 p.m. inside the Pavilion.