The Sacramento State volleyball team won both games of their road trip to remain undefeated in Big Sky Conference play with a record of 5-0.
On Thursday, the Hornets traveled to Moscow, Idaho where they comfortably beat the Idaho Vandals in a 3-0 sweep.
Two days later, the Hornets beat the Eastern Washington Eagles in a hard fought 3-1 match.
Thursday: Sac State: 3, Idaho: 0
Sac State’s offense was dominant on Thursday night in their 3-0 sweep over Idaho.
The Hornets had a .448 hitting percentage in the match, which is almost double their season average hitting percentage of .227. It is also the highest percentage recorded in a game by the Hornets since 2015.
Senior outside hitter Bridgette Smith was on fire in the first set, recording 9 of the 18 Sac State kills. Smith finished the match with her season high of 21 kills and a career high hitting percentage of .514.
“As a team, we passed well so really we were able to run our offense and she just looked really aggressive tonight and attacked really well,” Sac State head coach Ruben Volta said.
The Hornets built off of their momentum from the first set and started the second set on a 12-4 run. The run consisted of kills from senior middle blocker Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin, Smith and multiple errors by the Vandals.
“I think that’s what we were trying to capitalize on tonight,” Smith said. “Just playing really clean, not letting up on any points, or giving any points away and I think we did great at that.”
Set three was back and forth until Sac State ran away with it after a 13-3 run that included three kills from both Smith and senior outside hitter Caitlin Volkmann.
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Saturday: Sac State 3, Eastern Washington: 1
Sac State faced a tougher challenge against Eastern Washington on Saturday.
Both teams went on runs to open the first set and were trading the lead. This was a hard fought set between the two teams with big rallies and clutch saves.
Volta said it was challenging for Sac State to attack at first because Eastern Washington was serving tough and blocking shots well.
“We started doing that and playing much better defense and then started attacking better,” Volta said.
The Hornets finally pulled away after kills from Smith, Kamba-Griffin and junior outside hitter Ellie Tisko. Sophomore setter Kate Doorn closed out the set with a service ace to win 25-20.
“We really dug deep and knew it was going to be a challenge,” Volkmann said. ”As long as we stay as consistent as we can, not let our errors bother us and stay aggressive, we just keep fighting.”
The second set was another close one with both sides meeting at a 14-14 tie. After multiple errors by the Hornets and four kills from the Eagles’ senior outside hitter Sage Brustad, the Eagles won the set 25-18.
A big part of the Hornets’ success in recent matches has been because of their blocking, but in the two sets against the Eagles, they only recorded one block. That changed in the third set when senior middle blocker Kalani Hayes picked up three blocks in seven consecutive plays.
The teams were tied at 19, but this time the Hornets pulled away with a 4-0 run that the Eagles couldn’t battle back from. For the second time of the day, Doorn put the finishing touches on the set with a service ace giving the Hornets a 25-21 win.
After three nail biting sets, Sac State was in position to win the match. The Hornets took control of the fourth set with a 14-3 run. That was all the Hornets needed to close out the match.
“We came together right before the fourth set and we’re like this is not going to five. We’re putting our foot down,” Tisko said.
After a successful road trip, the Hornets will return home to play Weber State on Thursday at 7 p.m.
