The men of the Sacramento State volleyball club earned the championship spot of the Div. I bronze bracket at the NCVF national tournament in Missouri April 5-7.

The club has won two national championships in 1995 and 1997 and came close this year until they lost to UC Santa Barbara 25-23, 25-15 in the challenge round Thursday.

The Hornets’ first matchup was against Notre Dame, against whom they lost 25-22, 25-21.

Notre Dame eventually beat UC Berkeley in the championship match 25-23, 25-22.

Sac State did not attend the national competition in 2011 and team captain Jeff Steffens said he felt the pressure going into the first game.

“I was a little bit nervous for the first match because we did not go last year and our first match was against number three Notre Dame who ended up winning the whole thing,” Steffens said.

After losses to Santa Barbara and Purdue University, Sac State was dropped to the bronze bracket where they faced George Mason, Lakeland, UC Irvine and San Diego State.

Steffens said he thought the team would have made it further in the competition, but because of the bracket match-ups they were paired with the top teams from the beginning.

“(Santa Barbara) was a high seed who did not play well in their pool,” Steffens said. “If they took first in their pool like they were seeded, we might have done better. We were disappointed after losing to them and lost to Purdue for our chance to stay in the silver (bracket).”

Within the bronze bracket, Sac State swept the competition and won all games against George Mason, Lakeland, Irvine and San Diego to win the pool.

“We were happy to win, but at the same time we pretty much knew we would win the Bronze bracket,” said club vice president and treasurer Thomas Fairchild. “We were definitely sad we didn’t make it to silver or gold bracket because we could have shown everybody how good we actually are. But because of a tough (challenge round) we weren’t able to do that.”

Like Steffens, Fairchild said he was expecting the team to do better. He said there were a lot of new players who joined the club this year and better familiarization with each other could have helped the outcome of the season.

“With the talent we have, we should have been a top-10 team, but the way the brackets worked out we fell short,” Fairchild said. “Most teams we play have been together for years, which is something that really helps at nationals.”

The club will continue to train in the off-season and will be back on the court for another season in January.

Jillian Kweller can be reached at [email protected].