Sacramento State’s volleyball head coach Debby Colberg had a pleasant birthday weekend after sweeping past all three opponents over the weekend.

The Hornets continue to control first place in the Big Sky after getting two more conference wins against Weber State and Idaho State.

“We’re always watching the Big Sky race carefully,” Colberg said. “Overall we are doing pretty good.”

On Thursday the Bobcats of Weber entered the Hornets Nest and left themselves defenseless against the Sac State’s outside hitters. Junior outside hitter Atlee Hubbard’s sweeping right hand found the sweet spot for a career-high 26 kills against the Bobcats.

The Hornets committed 33 attack errors and 10 service errors, allowing Weber to push the match to a fourth game. The Hornets put away the match after playing four match points.

“I think our biggest problem now is finding out if we can stay consistent,” Hubbard said.

Attention moved from the outside hitters to the middle where sophomores Michelle Franz and Lindsay Haupt posted big numbers against the second conference opponent of the weekend on Saturday, Idaho State.

While key players, middle blocker Zoe Beltz and outside hitter Felice Yocopis, were out for Idaho State, Franz and Haupt controlled the net and combined for 20 kills and eight block assists against the Bengal. Haupt posted the match high in blocks with six. Franz had a career-high three aces. As a team the Hornets had twelve aces and 17 blocks.

Joining Franz in the record books was Sac State junior Kristin Lutes, who forced the team to take two time-outs back to back, as she opened a cut on her serving hand.

“I had to hide it or they would have taken me right out,” Lutes said.

She returned to the game in top form, however. Later in the third and final game she scored a career high in aces with three.

The two conference wins give the Hornets a demanding lead over the Big Sky, as they are the only team with a single loss in the conference. In the third match of the longest home stand of the year for Sac State, the team played an opponent it had never faced before in the Bucknell Bison.

In the only West Coast trip for the year, Bucknell, hailing from Lewisburg, Pa., did not get a friendly welcome from the Hornets. The green and gold dominated the Bison in every category.

The buzz remained upfront and center, as Haupt again dominated against the undersized middles of Bucknell. Rolling over the Bison, Haupt posted eight kills on 14 attempts, one solo block and one block assist.

In the one hour and 18 minute match the Bison fumbled their way to a .025 hitting percentage with three players hitting into the negative.

After closing out game three against Idaho State, freshman setter Rose Burke saw more action while starting games two and three against Bucknell on Sunday. The freshman admitted she was hurt psychologically after a 1-5 start to the season as starting setter. Now that the team has won the last 13 of 15 and is 8-1 at home the freshman has much more to be confident about.

“I think the season is going really good,” Burke said. “I’m having a blast.”

Burke and the rest of the Hornets hope to continue the good times with another win against UC Davis tonight at 7 p.m. in the Hornets Nest.

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Brad Alexander can be reached at [email protected]