Sacramento State’s volleyball team will not head to the Big Sky Conference Tournament after falling to Montana Saturday and losing the sixth and final spot needed to make the postseason.  

The Hornets were eliminated by the Grizzlies in five sets, (25-21, 20-25, 21-25, 25-19, 10-15)

Following the conclusion of the match, the Hornets’ fate was sealed when Northern Colorado defeated Northern Arizona.

Sac State needed a win or a Northern Colorado loss to reach the tournament.

Northern Colorado and Sac State split its regular season matches but the Bears were awarded the tiebreaker due to set differential. The Bears claimed five of the eight sets that were played between the two teams.

Tonight’s loss marked the final game played for Hornet seniors, middle blocker Chelcy Motes, setter and defensive specialist Katie Aprile and team co-captains; right-side hitter Kayla Beal and setter Hannah Hettinga.

Motes collected 11 kills while hitting .444 in the loss. Hettinga had 58 assists to go along with 6 kills and a 1.000 percentage.

Grizzlies senior middle blocker Brooke Bray tallied a team-high 19 kills and hit .485 on the night.  

Even though the Hornets had the kill advantage over Montana, 68-54, Sac State was sloppy committing 26 errors while the Grizzlies finished with 16.

Sac State volleyball finishes the season with an overall record of 15-16 and a Big Sky mark of 10-10.