Cross this one off the list.

Coming into the 2004 season, the list of goals for setter Stephanie Gamst and Sacramento State volleyball was as long as it was lofty. Near the top of the list was beating regional rival Pacific for the first time in seven years.

Mission accomplished as Sac State stunned the Tigers 3-0 (30-17, 30-20, 30-27) Tuesday night in the Hornets Nest.

“This feels really good,” said Gamst, a fifth-year senior who had witnessed four consecutive sweeps by Pacific in the match-up going into last night. “It’s really satisfying to beat this team.”

Pacific (10-6, 7-2 Big West) is currently receiving votes in the USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches poll and has beaten No. 20 UC Santa Barbara already this season but has fallen on hard times as of late, dropping three consecutive matches.

The Hornets (16-6, 5-2 Big Sky) improved to 8-1 in the Nest this year and has not dropped a game in a match in which they’ve won (all 3-0 sweeps). That, according to head coach Debby Colberg, is both a blessing a curse.

“This win is satisfying because it was with the same lineup we couldn’t win with at Idaho State (last Saturday),” Colberg said. “We have to take the confidence we played with tonight on the road with us.”

That confidence translated into gritty defense, crisp passing and tough serves all night long for the Hornets who beat Pacific for the first time in seven years. Sac State jumped out to 19-7 lead in game one, powered by sophomore outside hitter Atlee Hubbard who had eight digs, three kills and an ace in the frame and ended up with a .400 hitting percentage (11 kills on 25 attacks with one error) and a match-high 15 digs.

“After I got the ace, I gained a lot of confidence,” Hubbard said. “I know I can (play well), it’s just when I don’t have it I get frustrated and it’s hard to get over that.”

The Tigers hit .154 as a team in game one, struggling to put one down on a scrappy Hornets defense.

“Everyone pursued more balls tonight and we played team defense,” junior libero Mallory Hook, who ended up with 11 digs, said.

Hook was shifted to libero from defensive specialist due to starter Kristin Lutes’ fractured knuckle which will sideline her for at least a month. Libero is nothing new to Hook however, she filled in as the starter for much of her freshman year of 2002 when then-starter Olivia Thomas was injured.

“Mallory is unflappable, you really can’t bother her,” Colberg said. “Even if she makes a mistake, it doesn’t seem to bother her.”

Sac State did not trail in either of the first two games, and it was not until the third game did the Hornets begin to slow down. As the Tigers committed fewer errors and made the game closer, Sac State committed some untimely mistakes of its own.

The Hornets committed six errors and Pacific committed just seven in a third game that saw eight tie scores and three lead changes. With a 20-17 lead late in game three, it appeared as though momentum was with the Tigers, but Sac State mounted a 13-7 run to close out the game and the match, fittingly on a combo block featuring the a little bit of old and new with Gamst and freshman middle Lindsay Haupt.

“Everything was going right for us tonight,” Haupt, who had 12 kills while hitting .579 with four blocks, said. “Now we need to look back on this match and remember what it was like so we can take it with us on the road.

“We have the skills, we just need this home mentality to be comfortable with ourselves and play well on the road.”