It has been two months since the Sacramento State volleyball team has hardly run into a roadblock. Entering their eighth NCAA tournament in nine years, the Hornets have a big obstacle in front of them.

Sac State is slated to face No. 15 Santa Clara in the opening round of the tournament. The two teams haven’t seen each other since the home opener for the Hornets on Aug. 30, where the Broncos won in a sweep.

“(Santa Clara is) going to be a tough opponent,” Hornets head coach Debby Colberg said. “This match is going to be a true measure of our progress this season.”

The Broncos will be facing a different team from earlier in the season. In the Broncos’ sweep, Sac State was in the middle of a five game losing streak, since then the Hornets have won 16 of their last 17 matches. Twelve of those matches have been sweeps in favor of Sac State.

In the meantime, both teams are kings of their conferences. The Hornets picked up their ninth consecutive Big Sky crown while the Broncos won the West Coast Conference and finished the season 23-4.

The 26-8 Hornets also faced off against Santa Clara in the 2000 national tournament, only to lose in three straight. But in 2000, the Hornets didn’t have the conference MVP sophomore Lindsay Haupt alongside four other starting Hornets that made the all-conference team this year.

Although Santa Clara has dropped three of its last four matches, the team collected its own set of hardware this season. Four players made the all-conference team and head coach Jon Wallace taking Coach of the Year honors. Senior outside hitter Cassie Perret picked up Player of the Year in the conference for her ability to rack up kills.

“This will be a challenge for us,” said Colberg. “I hope (the team) will like the challenge.”

The match will take place in Palo Alto inside Stanford’s Maples Pavilion at 5 p.m. The winner will face the winner of No. 5 Stanford-Nevada on Saturday at 7 p.m. Should the Hornets get past the Broncos, it would be the first time Sac State made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament since 1998.

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Brad Alexander can be reached at [email protected]