The Sacramento State women’s volleyball team will be working off its Thanksgiving dinner at the Big Sky Conference Tournament this weekend at home.

The team will host because conference rules state that the winner of the regular season title will host the tournament the following year.

The Hornets will take on the highest remaining seed from the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. If the Hornets win that match, they will play for the conference championship on Saturday night.

The Hornets concluded regular season play with a 26-7 record overall and 13-3 in the Big Sky Conference. The team will take the second place seed in the tournament, due to the loss to Portland State last Saturday.

Portland State and Sac State will both receive byes in the first round of the tournament, meaning they don’t have to play in the quarterfinals.

The team shared a piece of this season’s first place title with Portland State. The two teams tied for first place, but because Portland leads the Hornets in games won, the Vikings will host next year’s tournament.

This season marks the 11th that the Hornets have won either the regular season and/or tournament title.

Sac State joined the Div. I rankings in 1996 and the volleyball team has been in the postseason every year since then. The team has not won the Big Sky tournament only two times out of the last 10 years.

If Sacramento State wins the Big Sky Tournament, the team will be given a spot in the NCAA tournament.

In 1999 the Hornets appeared in the NCAA tournament along with Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington.

The conclusion of this season marks the end of an era. Head coach Debby Colberg announced in August that she would be retiring after the end of the 2007 season. Associate head coach Ruben Volta will take Colberg’s place next season.

The Big Sky tournament kicks off Friday morning as Weber State and Northern Colorado play in the first quarterfinal at 9:30 a.m.

The Hornets will play at 7:30 p.m. against the highest remaining seed. All matches will be played at the Hornets Nest.

Alicia de la Garza can be reached at [email protected]