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Although the Sacramento State women’s volleyball team did beat the Portland State Vikings to grow its winning streak to 13 games, the eight consecutive three-game-sweeps the team had were stopped Friday night in the Hornets Nest.

With a victory after five games, (30-25, 30-22, 26-30, 24-30, 15-10) the Hornet squad took over first place of the Big Sky Conference and boosted its overall record to 19-3.

Hornet seniors Lindsay Haupt and Missie Stidham could not seem to get many kills against the Viking defense.

“We got blocked an enormous amount of times tonight, probably more than we ever have, but we still managed to win the match, so you have to find other ways to win it and know you have the skills to do that,” Hornet head coach Debby Colberg said.

Those blocks eventually got to the usual Hornet powerhouses, Stidham and Haupt.

“When they started blocking us it got into our heads a lot but I think as time went on we realized we had to change something,” Stidham said.

The Vikings posted 34 team blocks and the Hornets had 12 for the match.

“We worked more on our shots, we hit line and tipped more and we tried to work our way around it,” Stidham said.

A usual dominating force for the Hornets, middle hitter Haupt was also shut down numerous times by the Viking defense.

“No one likes to be blocked and when it happens that many times, it can get in your head and I think that’s what happened tonight. It affected our playing but luckily that didn’t effect the entire outcome of the match,” Haupt said.

The Hornets also had a rough night offensively. Senior outside hitter Jennifer Ferguson had 20 kills in 75 attempts.

Portland State’s blocking impressed Colberg.

“That’s one of the nice things about having a blocking team. It is an intimidating skill and it ruins their confidence. You have to know you’re good enough and have the confidence to keep coming back or win the game doing other things well,” Colberg said.

The Hornets will take on Eastern Washington tonight in the Hornets Nest at 7 p.m.

Contact Alicia de la Garza at [email protected]