Sac State volleyball team defeats Northern Arizona in 5 sets

Sarah Davis and Cianna Andrews set career highs in kills

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Robert Moon

Sac State senior outside hitter Sarah Davis spikes the ball against Northern Arizona Saturday, Oct 5 at The Nest. Davis had 31 kills during the game, at times having more total kills then the Lumberjacks as a team.

Patrick Walsh
October 6, 2019

The Sacramento State volleyball team defeated Northern Arizona University Saturday 3-2 in a closely contested, back-and-forth match.

The Hornets (7-10, 2-2 Big Sky Conference) won the match in a close fifth set that saw six lead changes with neither team leading by more than two points. 

Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Falk gave the Hornets the lead during the fifth set 16-15 with her seventh kill.  Back-to-back kills from senior outside hitter Sarah Davis put the Hornets ahead for good 18-16. 

Davis said it felt good to win a five-set match after previously losing in five sets to both the University of Idaho and Southern Utah University. 

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“We’ve taken almost every game to five so it was really exciting to finally win a five-set match,” Davis said. 

Davis finished the game with a career-high 31 kills. This was the third game in a row Davis set a personal best in kills. 

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Teammate and junior middle blocker Cianna Andrews also achieved a personal best with 21 kills. 

“We really try to come out and use our energy and athleticism against teams,” Andrews said. “I think we came together and started to work for each other and not let the little things bother us.”

After losing the first set 25-22, the Hornets won the second and third 25-19 and 25-16 respectively to put Sac State up 2-1 overall. 

Northern Arizona battled back in the fourth set to force a fifth. The Hornets fell behind 14-6 early on but came back to tie the score at 16. However, NAU held on to claim the fourth 27-25. Lumberjacks senior middle blocker Abby Akin had six of her team-best 12 kills in the fourth set. 

Sac State head coach Ruben Volta said he was impressed with both Davis’ and Andrews’ performances.

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“Sarah played so well, attacking with so many types of kills, tips and roll shots,” Volta said. “I think Cianna really sparked us after that first set loss. She got our attack going in the middle and it frustrated NAU.”

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Volta went on to say how he was pleased with the team’s overall effort. 

“We needed that win after some close-set losses,” Volta said. “I’m excited that we were able to play tough at important times.” 

The Hornets play next Thursday at Idaho State.