The Sacramento State volleyball team swept the Northern Colorado Bears in three sets to remain unbeaten in the Big Sky Conference Saturday at Colberg Court.

This victory comes after Sac State (15-7, 6-0 Big Sky) outlasted North Dakota Thursday in five sets of grueling competition.

“I woke up Friday, and I was tired,” said Kennedy Kurtz, the Hornets senior setter. ”We just had really good determination tonight to come out and want to destroy Northern Colorado.”

The first set remained close with the highest lead at 9-5 in the Hornets favor. Accurate shots and dump sets from Kurtz pushed the game forward. However, misplays from the Hornets kept Northern Colorado in play.

“In the first set, we made a lot of errors like I think we missed three serves, hit a lot of balls out, we weren’t passing well,” Kurtz said after the Hornets won the first set 28-26. “I think in the next two sets, we really served well, (and) I think we outpassed them, and we made sure to get them out of system a lot.”

After a close first set, junior middle blocker Brie Gathright got into a good rhythm, and the Hornets established an early 21-14 lead.

“Volleyball is a really emotional game, so it can change up in a moments notice,” Gathright said. “I’m just glad we were able to get it together like emotionally. We bumped up our communication, and we just went out and handled our business.”

A quick save by senior outside hitter Shannon Boyle led her into the scoring table, but she was replaced by freshman outside hitter Macey Hayden due to a knee injury.

After that momentary pause in play, Northern Colorado capitalized on the Hornets’ loss of momentum and scored, making the score a close 23-22. However, Hayden held her own and helped the Hornets close out set two with a 25-22 win.

“I was a little nervous at first just because, obviously, she’s our sixth rotation outside hitter,” Kurtz said. “I knew Shannon was gonna come back in, but I was just happy Macey could come in and make some really big plays when we needed them.”

Boyle returned for the third set, and the Hornets immediately began steamrolling the Bears for a 12-6 lead. Hornets junior outside hitter Mikaela Nocetti started a hot streak of serves, and they established a 23-15 score before winning the set and the match 25-17.

The Hornets will play Southern Utah Thursday at 7 p.m. at Colberg Court.