With the Big Sky Tournament championship at stake the Sacramento State women’s volleyball team saw little change in its strategy with its four-game victory (30-18, 30-25, 22-30, 30-21) over Eastern Washington on Saturday night in the Hornets Nest.

The Hornets, who had won five in a row and 16 of its last 17 matches, hosted the Eagles in a rematch of what has become a five-year Big Sky tournament rivalry. With that in their minds the Hornets wanted to come out and show the Eagles how much they wanted the win.

“We just wanted to kill them,” junior middle hitter Michelle Franz said. “All week we were just busting our butts off (for the tournament).”

Franz, one of seven players named to the All-Big Sky Tournament Team, accounted for 13 kills and blocks.

The Eagles wouldn’t make it easy for the Hornets throughout the match. With scores see-sawing back and forth, the Hornets knew that they were going to go against a team that made constant changes in its strategy.

“We know (Eagle’s coach Wade Benson) substitutes freely, and that’s something that we’re used to,” Hornets coach Debby Colberg said. “We know them by now. There weren’t really any surprises. It’s just a matter of whether we could out-skill them out there.”

The Hornets played two hard-fought games giving up a combined total of 43 points. However, the Eagles would claw back and win game three.

Despite the loss, the Hornets would rally and come back capitalizing on Eagles errors. Eastern Washington finished with 32 kill errors and gave up 13 points off of misplaced serves.

The Hornets credited its victory with the combined effort. Each member contributed every time they stepped on the court, players said.

“We have a maturity on our team that we’ve never had before,” junior middle hitter Lindsay Haupt said. “It’s just plain hard work, and trusting our team mates.”

Haupt was named MVP of the tournament, tallied a team-tying 14 kills and blocked 10 shots.

“There isn’t just one person out there working really hard. That’s what’s great about our team, if one of us isn’t having a good time out there; we give it to somebody else,” Haupt said. “We don’t need that one star, we don’t have that; we have a million stars out there.”

After the game, the All-Big Sky Tournament team players from tonight’s game were announced.

In addition to Franz and Haupt, Eastern Washington senior outside hitter Brittney Page, Eastern Washington sophomore outside hitter Addie Webster, Portland State senior outside hitter Jessica Frederick and Montana freshman Taryn Wright were selected.

Chrystal Johnson, a senior outside hitter for Eastern Washington, had a match-high 18 kills against a match-high 14 attack errors.

Mandy Daniels, sophomore Eastern Washington defensive specialist, tallied a match-high tying 30 digs with Sac State senior libero Kristin Lutes.

Eastern Washington sophomore middle blocker Kerri Beck led the Eagles with six blocks.

The NCAA will announce its selections for the tournament at 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 26. The first and second rounds will take place Nov. 30 through Dec. 3.

Josh Staab can be reached at [email protected]