Sacramento State volleyball’s NCAA Tournament fate was revealed Sunday evening when the 64 team bracket was announced live on ESPN News.

The Hornets will face 10th-seeded St. Mary’s in the opening match of the first round which will be held at Haas Pavilion on the California campus this Thursday at 5 p.m.

This NCAA appearance is the eighth overall and seventh in the last eight years for the Hornets (25-7, 11-3 Big Sky) who have earned their spot in the field each time by way of the Big Sky Conference’s automatic bid. This year Sac State knocked off Big Sky regular season champion Eastern Washington for the third straight year in Cheney, Wash.

Facing the No. 5-seeded Stanford Cardinal for the second straight year last December the Hornets pushed 2004 Olympian Oganna Nnamani and Co. to the limit in the first two games but eventually folded in a 3-0 (39-37, 30-28, 30-23) loss.

St. Mary’s (23-3, 12-2 West Coast) is making its second NCAA appearance in as many seasons and just the second overall in program history — both at-large bids. This year marks the first season that the Gaels are seeded entering the Big Dance. St. Mary’s finished second in the West Coast Conference behind eventual champion and No. 9 seed San Diego (22-4, 14-0).

Last season at No. 8 seed Cal the Gaels dropped a 3-0 (30-20, 30-21, 30-23) contest to the Golden Bears last Dec. 5.

Sac State and the Gaels are familiar with one-another as they routinely face off in non-conference action each season. This year St. Mary’s came into the Hornets Nest and walked away with an epic 3-2 (30-28, 29-31, 30-21, 24-30, 15-13) victory to end a 17 match winless drought against the Hornets.

The winner of the St. Mary’s-Sac State contest will face the winner of Thursday night’s second match pitting unseeded but host Cal (16-11, 11-7 Pac-10) against the University of the Pacific (19-9, 13-5 Big West) on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Berkeley.

The winner of Friday night’s match will be off to Seattle for the Sweet 16 and West Regional finals which take place Dec. 10-11.

Tickets for the first and second round matches at Haas Pavilion are $12 for a reserved seat, $10 for general admission, $6 for students and senior citizens and $4 for children. Children under two-years-old will be admitted for free.