Swarm Report March 6: Sac State baseball and women’s volleyball teams dominate

Men’s basketball pulls off nail biter against Montana State

Patrick Posuniak

Colin Madigan
March 7, 2021

Track and field team secures multiple event victories in Berkeley

Sac State’s track and field team attended the California Outdoor Opener at University of California, Berkeley for its first road meet this season Saturday. Both the men’s and women’s teams lost in overall points to Cal, but there were highlights in the meet for both Sac State teams.

Sac State junior thrower Evan Stork placed first in the men’s hammer throw. Freshmen Jaren Johnson and John Gibbs tied for second in the men’s high jump and Jabari Reynolds II placed first in the 200-meter dash. Alec Foster placed first in the men’s 400-meter dash. The Sac State men’s relay team placed first in the men’s 4×400-meter relay. 

Freshman Kameryn Brown placed second in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, missing first by just tenths of a second. Freshman Mia Lawrence placed first in the women’s 800-meter run, beating out teammate freshman Sarah Collier by hundredths of a second. Shantel Nnaji placed second in the women’s shot put. 

The Hornets will attend the Ben Brown Invitational next Friday and Saturday in Fullerton, California before returning home. 

Sac State men’s basketball team wins nailbiter against Montana State 

The Sac State’s men’s basketball team (8-11,  5-9 Big Sky) played the second game of a back-to-back series against Montana State (11-9, 8-6 Big Sky). The Hornets lost a close one Friday night 77-75 but were able to come away with a 74-73 win in the final seconds of the game Saturday.

Sac State junior guard Zach Chappell sealed the win for the Hornets when he went to the line with 1.7 seconds left in the game and knocked down both free throws. Chappell had 11 points in Saturday’s win and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. 

Story continues after tweet.


Both Sac State forward Ethan Esposito and Montana State forward Jubrile Belo had 32 points in the game, a career high for Esposito.

The Hornets will look to use this win as momentum going into the Big Sky Tournament on Wednesday. They will have to win four straight games to clinch an appearance in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Women’s tennis team continues to struggle with 0-7 start to the season

Sac State’s women’s tennis team (0-7) continued its rocky start to the season, losing 6-1 Saturday to the University of San Francisco (5-2). This is now the Hornets’ seventh straight loss and fourth consecutive loss at home. 

Despite the team’s loss, sophomore Jayden Nielsen personally had a great performance, securing wins at the number one singles and doubles position. Nielsen won her singles match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. Nielsen and her partner sophomore Megan Tagaloa secured the only doubles win for the Hornets 6-3. 

Two of the singles matches went three sets. Tagaloa took on USF’s Rita Colyer before losing the third set 10-7. Freshman Jin Yu battled USF’s Azaria Hayes before losing the third set 10-6. 

The team travels to the University of the Pacific on Sunday to take on the Tigers at 12 p.m.

Sac State women’s volleyball team sweeps Eastern Washington

Outside hitter, Bridgette Smith, spikes the ball to Eastern Washington during the second set and getting a kill during the first of 2 games against Eastern Washington at the Nest at Sac State Saturday, March 5, 2021. The score for the second set was a winning score of 25-17. (Deanna Sanchez)

 

The Hornets extended their home win streak to 5-0 and advanced their record to 6-5 after sweeping Eastern Washington on Saturday night. Sac State dominated Eastern Washington with 43 kills to the Eagles’ 28.  

The Sac State women’s volleyball team held Eastern Washington to a 0.11 kill percentage while having a 0.269 kill percentage themselves.

Everyone got in on the action, with five Sac State players having 6 or more kills. Freshmen Caitlin Volkmann and Bridgette Smith both led the Hornets with 9 kills a piece. 

Defensively, Hornet sophomore Caty Cordano led the team in digs with a total of 19. 

The team will continue its four match home stand Sunday at 1 p.m. against Eastern Washington again. 

Hornet baseball team dominates Santa Clara

The Sac State men’s baseball team (7-3) had its first shutout game of the season against Santa Clara (3-7) with a massive 10-0 win. The Hornets lead the four game series 2-1.

The Hornets had a huge fifth inning, scoring 6 runs and taking a commanding 6-0 lead in the game. Junior Keith Torres had a double RBI. Senior Ryan Walstad had a RBI single. Freshman Jorge Bojorquez had a home run, bringing two other runners in with him. 

Bojorquez brought in two more runners with a RBI double in the top of the seventh inning, extending the Hornets’ lead to 8-0. 

In the top of the ninth, freshman Hunter Dorraugh hit his second career home run, bringing another run in with him as well, solidifying Sac State’s win.

Story continues after tweet.

Sophomore Travis Adams pitched seven innings, striking out seven batters and giving up no runs. 

The Hornets will play their last game of the four-game series against Santa Clara on Sunday at 1 p.m.