Swarm Report Feb. 13: Women’s soccer team still undefeated, both basketball teams lose

Softball team splits in doubleheader against Saint Mary’s, volleyball team wins

Madelaine Church

Sac State blocker Sarah Falk (14) and outside hitter Macey Hayden (3) block Idaho’s return in the final minute of their fourth set. The Hornets went on to win the Saturday, Feb 13th match 3-1.

Garry Singh
February 15, 2021

Sac State women’s basketball team moves to 1-16 on the year 

The Sacramento State women’s basketball team, coming off a loss against the University of Northern Colorado by 17 points Thursday, ended Saturday with another double-digit loss to the Bears, 90-67.

The Hornets shot a solid 40% from the floor, while the Bears shot 56%, a good shooting night for the Hornets considering their past few losses.

The Hornets’ issue was in their ability to rebound the ball, getting outrebounded 43 to 23. It also didn’t help that the Hornets only scored 28 points in the paint while allowing the Bears to score 44. 

On top of that,  the Hornets were constantly in foul trouble, which gave the Bears opportunities to be more aggressive and force the Hornets to adjust the lineups earlier in the game.  The Hornets suffered a brutal second quarter, where they scored only 10 to the Bears’ 28 points.

The Sacramento State women’s basketball team will take on Southern Utah on Feb. 18 at 5 p.m.

Sac State softball team splits Saturday after a game 1 shutout

In the first matchup at home on Saturday with the Saint Mary’s Gaels, the Hornets came out hot with sophomore pitcher Marissa Bertuccio who helped the Hornets cruise to a victory by only giving up four singles in six innings pitched.

In the bottom of the third inning, sophomore third baseman Lewa Day sparked the Hornets with a  three-run homer over the left-field fence which was the total runs they had in the inning to make the score 3-0 at that point. 

The Hornets finished the Gaels off in the sixth inning with four runs scored, which led to the eight-run mercy rule ending the game.

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In the second matchup against the Gaels, the Hornets had a slow start both at the plate and on the field, while the Gales scored five runs in the first three innings to the Hornets one.  It seemed the Gaels would not let the Hornets get a spark by using two pitchers to keep them at bay.

The Hornets tried to make a push in the fifth inning when they scored two runs to make the score 6-3, but they could not gain enough momentum to complete the comeback. 

In this game, unlike the first game where the Hornets had a better pitching performance, the Gaels flipped the switch, which helped them gain the two game split.

“The first game, we had more collective hits together that were really perfect for when we had runners on, so we did a lot of scoring,” said sophomore Lewa Day, third base, after the second game. “This game we just didn’t string our hits together and that lost it for us.”

The Hornets will face Saint Mary’s in a Friday doubleheader Feb. 19. 

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James Fife
Sophomore pitcher Marissa Bertuccio (15) winds up for the pitch in game 1 against Saint Mary’s College. Bertuccio is 2-0 in starts so far in the season. The Hornets beat the Gael at Hornet Field 8-0 in 6 innings on February 13th, 2021

Sac State men’s basketball team loses, first 3-game losing streak of the year

The Hornets could not get over the hump in their matchup Saturday against California Baptist University at the CBU Events Center. 

The Hornets had a poor first half in which they scored 27 points and allowed 39 points. Even though they had chipped away at the Lancers’ lead within striking distance a few times during the game, the Hornets failed to swing the momentum in order to capitalize.

The loss to the Bears followed a loss against Eastern Washington 94-79 earlier in the month before the Hornets had their last five games canceled due to COVID-19 protocols, including a game canceled after a player reported feeling sick and awaited COVID-19 test results.

Senior forward Ethan Esposito had 22 points with 7 rebounds. In the second half, the Hornets tied the Lancers at 44 points.

But in this game, the Hornets’ defense couldn’t contain the Lancers, allowing them to shoot 51% from the field and 50% from 3-point land. The Hornets shot 43% from the field and only 34% from the 3-point arc.

The Hornets took on California Baptist on Sunday at 12 p.m. in an away game.

Sac State volleyball team wins in 4 sets, improves to winning record

The Sacramento State volleyball team won against the University of Idaho 3-1 Saturday at the Nest. 

The Hornets previously suffered back-to-back losses at Northern Colorado where they didn’t win a set. But in the matchup against the Idaho Vandals in the Nest on Saturday, the Hornets came out clicking on all cylinders by winning the first two sets.

The Hornets had four players with double-digits in kills with at least 11 kills for each one of those players. It was a great team victory overall even though they allowed the Vandals to get set 3 but by a score of 25 to 22, which was a close-set. But the Hornets took care of the Vandals in set 4 scoring 25 to the Vandals 19. 

Multiple Hornets played well in the matchup, including junior middle blocker Sarah Falk with five blocks, sophomore defensive specialist Caty Cordano with 26 digs, and sophomore setter McKenna Smith with 24 assists.

“It was for sure our defense that was really good, we were being scrappy which is what we really wanted to do,” said senior outside hitter Macey Hayden. “Also our serving, we were pushing them deep and giving them a lot of trouble, and that made them out of system a lot of the time.” 

The Hornets took on the Vandals again Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Nest. 

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Sac State women’s soccer ties after double overtime

The Sacramento State women’s soccer team ended Saturday with a 1-1 tie at the University of Pacific that went to double overtime. 

The Hornets were in danger of losing the game, but with 90 seconds left remaining, sophomore forward Jasmyne Dunn sent a soft cross into the middle where senior forward Julia Herrera saved the game for Sac State with a goal to send it to the first overtime. 

The Hornets lacked aggression on the offensive front during the first half, only taking one-shot compared to the 13 shots that the Tigers took. In the second half, they appeared to flip a switch offensively with six corner kicks to the Tigers’ two and the same amount of shots as the Tigers in the second half with six shots. 

The tie extended the Hornets’ unbeaten regular-season streak to 19 matches. The Hornets’ last regular-season loss was in August 2019.

The Hornets will take on Oregon on Feb. 19 at 3 p.m. at home.