Mikaela Nocetti stood at the serving line in the Sacramento State Invitational on Saturday, and for the first time in her career, she didn’t have a more experienced outside hitter by her side.

When she arrived at Sacramento State after transferring from the University of Portland in 2016, she played with then senior Madeline Cannon and then junior Shannon Boyle, then in 2017, Boyle remained. Now, Cannon and Boyle have graduated and Nocetti is helping to lead fellow outside hitter, junior Sarah Davis.

A season ago, Nocetti led the Hornets in kills and was 25th in the nation. This season, the 5-foot-11-inch senior from Carmichael is ranked 21st in the nation in kills and she boosted her scoring stats at the Sacramento State Invitational.

Nocetti started off the tournament by recording 18 kills and 19 digs against the University of Nevada and finished with 21 kills and 12 digs. She picked up the tournament Most Valuable Player award and helped her team win two of its three games.

Her next game will be against the University of Portland, a school that she played at for one season in 2015.

Nocetti has known she wanted to play volleyball since she was a child. Nocetti’s mother, Deanne, played at University of San Francisco and also coached afterward. Mikaela said that when she was young she was “always in the gym watching people play.”

She played for Five Starz in Davis under former Sac State head coach Debby Colberg at and played varsity for four years at El Camino High. Throughout her entire life, she has always played outside hitter.

“I love the position,” Nocetti said. “I think it’s fun that a lot of the time you’re in position and you have a big double block on you, and you get the chance to get past them and make it for the kill. It’s not always the easy way out.”

While at El Camino, she was named “Volleyball Player of the Year” by the Sacramento Bee in 2014.

“I’ve watched her play since she was probably 14 or 15 years old. We recruited her,” said Sac State head coach Ruben Volta. “She has gotten better, her strength is that she is so reliable and so steady and she has been like that her whole career.”

Related: Sac State volleyball returns four starters from 15-1 team a season ago

Out of high school, Nocetti accepted a scholarship to the University of Portland and played in all 31 matches for the Pilots. But after a season where she recorded six kills and 89 digs, she decided to head home to continue her collegiate career.

“I knew from the start that I didn’t really love the city of Portland,” Nocetti said. “I love Sacramento and I wanted to come back to where I am from.”

In her first season at Sac State in 2016, she was third on the team in kills and fourth in digs. In her second season as a junior in 2017, she led the team in kills while finishing third in digs.

She won Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week in October of 2017 as the Hornets finished the conference season 15-1.

Nocetti said she did not know what the award meant when she heard she had earned it.

“After learning what exactly that meant I realized how much of an honor it is,” Nocetti said.

Related: Sac State volleyball edges North Dakota to remain undefeated in Big Sky

She said that the most rewarding game she has played was against North Dakota in the same month, when the Hornets won a five-set thriller over the titans. In that game, Nocetti had 21 kills and 18 digs. She also recorded the kill to win that game.

“It felt really good to beat them at home in five sets,” Nocetti said. “I remember when we walked into the locker room, I was just so excited, it felt so good. We were so exhausted.”

Nocetti is on pace to join the thousand digs and thousand kills club this season. A season ago, Shannon Boyle became the 12th player in school history to hit that milestone and now Nocetti is on pace to hit that mark.

“I try not to pay too much attention to the numbers, I do my best not to think about it because it’s a lot of pressure,” Nocetti said. “I just go out and do my best in every game.”

The Hornets will face Portland on Friday. When asked if she was uncomfortable about the upcoming game against the team she once played for, Nocetti said, “No, it was a decision I made, it didn’t have to do with other people.”

“Obviously, I have ties there,” Nocetti said. “My coach isn’t there anymore, so it definitely will be a little less stressful. One of my best friends is still on the team in Portland, so it will be fun to see her. I’m looking forward to the fact that it’s another game for us to improve as a team and get that team chemistry going.”