The Idaho State Bengals defeated Sacramento State’s women’s volleyball team at Colberg Court for the first time in school history as the Hornets were swept 3-0 Saturday.

Despite the loss, the Hornets kept all three sets close: 26-24, 26-24, 25-21.

Freshman outside hitter Janelle Currey and sophomore middle hitter Kelsey Elston led the Hornets with eight kills and four combined blocks. Sophomore middle hitter Anna Schoener was the only Hornet with a high hitting percentage, hitting .714.

Senior setter Melissa Melcher said after the game that the Hornets need to work on staying focused and holding onto their leads during games.

“Our problem is that we tend to relax and we can’t do that to a team that really wants to beat us since we beat them at home earlier this season,” Melcher said. “The teams aren’t going to get any easier so we just need to work really really hard during these next few matches and see what happens.”

Head coach Ruben Volta thought that the team did not quite put forth as much effort as it could have against the Bengals and Weber State Friday.

“We played well at times, but obviously we didn’t play well enough,” Volta said. “It came down to effort and being able to perform under pressure and unfortunately we weren’t able to do that.”

Melcher was still optimistic with the outlook of the rest of the season for the Hornets.

“I still have a lot of confidence on our team,” Melcher said. “We growing this year and we still have a lot to learn. I still think we can pull through.”

Sac State is now 5-7 in the Big Sky Conference and is a game and a half behind fourth seed Montana. The Hornets need to reclaim the fourth seed from Montana since only the top four teams will advance to the Big Sky tournament.