Sac State women’s volleyball loses invitational volleyball championship

Hornets win 2 of 3 games in home tournament

Tony Rodriguez

Sacramento State Hornets volleyball team wins 2 of 3 games to make it to the tournament championship on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. The Hornets hosted a four-team tournament made up of Boise State, CSU Northridge, University of the Pacific, and themselves.

Tony Rodriguez
September 12, 2021

The Hornets lost the championship game of Sacramento State’s invitational women’s volleyball tournament against Boise State on Saturday. 

Sac State and Boise State were able to remain undefeated in the tournament over three games. In the final, Boise State’s offense proved dominant with the match ending in three quick sets, giving the Hornets their only loss of the tournament.

“I think the tournament was really good preparation [for the upcoming season], all the teams were really strong,” said head coach Ruben Volta. “In the final game we played a really good team, and we just weren’t able to respond.”

The four-team tournament made up of Boise State, CSU Northridge, University of the Pacific and host Sac State started with a matchup between the Hornets and CSU Northridge’s Matadors. 

 

In a Hornet-dominated first set, they built momentum with wingers and were able to provide offensive support to help give the team the upper hand. While they struggled to maintain a lead in the beginning of the second set, the Hornets were eventually able to improve their passing and win the set 25-20. The Matadors had trouble holding on and gave up points on errors. 

A display of confidence and vocality among the wingers helped challenge the other teams’ frontline. The Matadors defense struggled as the Hornets maintained a heavy lead to finish with a win.

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Tony Rodriguez
Sac State’s Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin returns the ball in the championship game of the tournament in a loss against Boise State on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. The team's offensive efforts were not enough to keep the team afloat in the final

 

In Sac State’s second game of the tournament against University of the Pacific, they won in the first set but took five sets to put away the Tigers. They pulled it out in the final set with a 17-15 win. 

The Hornets were led to a 3-2 victory by Bridgette Smith’s 11 kills and Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin’s 10 blocks. This improved the record of the Hornets to 4-3 overall.

“This prepares us for the variety of teams that are in the Big Sky,” Kamba-Griffin said.

 

The Hornets saw one of their only leads of the final game against Boise State at the beginning of the first set.. Their defense managed to prevent total demolition, yet Boise State’s offense proved dominant with the set ending 25-19.

Boise State’s Lauren Ohlinger put up 10 kills in the first two sets.  The team was able to score seven times before the Hornets could score once in the third set. Ohlinger totaled up 15 kills by the end of the match.

The Hornets volleyball team will hit the road next week with two away matches to compete in the Nevada Classic Tournament. They play the University of Nevada, Reno on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. and CSUN on Friday, Sept. 17 at 2 p.m.