The Sacramento State women’s volleyball team lost to rival UC Davis in five sets on Tuesday, losing the fifth set 15-12.

This was the first time Sac State lost the Causeway Classic since 2008. The Hornets came into the match with expectations for a third straight win.

“I think we get excited for this game every year. Sure it’s a big rivalry game. It means more that it is a rivalry game,” said coach Ruben Volta. “My expectation coming into this game was that we were able to beat them. I didn’t think that it would be easy, but I thought with consistency that we could win.”

Senior middle blocker Kelsey Elston knew what to expect coming into the match.

“I expected us to come out super fired up because we always come out hard against Davis,” Elston said.

Elston is one of six seniors on the Hornet roster.

Eston and senior libero Breanne Menees are now 2-2 against Davis in their time with Sac State.

“As a senior I was super pumped coming into the game because this was the last time on our home court against our big rival Davis,” Menees said. “We have beaten them the last two years that I have been the libero.”

Losing their final match against Davis left them deflated.

“I feel super bummed out right now because I think that our team did a great job in the last three sets of the game, coming back by fighting with our backs against the wall,” Menees said.

Elston shared the same bittersweet sentiment, trying to identify a silver lining.

“It kind of bums me out that we lost,” said Elston. “But the last three sets we played like we know we can and how we will play this season, which is a good thing.”

During the last three sets of the match, there was constant movement on the court from both teams. There were some big rally plays between both teams. The match was constantly back and forth, which made for a very close game.

“I felt like if we played the way we did in the last three sets that we could have won the match,” Volta said. “I just don’t think we started off well.”

Sac State’s on-court communication increased during the third and fourth games, contributing to the wins. There were very few balls that didn’t get called by one of the Hornets during those matches.

“I feel like in the first two sets the communication really wasn’t there and was kind of dead because we just went through the motions of playing,” Menees said. “But in the last three sets we started to communicate every ball, every detail, and just working together.”

The Big Sky Conference opening match will be on Sept. 22 against Northern Arizona.

Nicole Bee can be reached at [email protected].