The Sacramento State Hornets kicked off Big Sky Conference play with a pair of 3-1 wins against Montana State and Eastern Washington.

With those wins the Hornets now sit in second place in the Big Sky standings behind Idaho State with a 9-6 overall record and 2-0 Big Sky record.

Thursday: Sac State: 3, Montana State: 1

The Hornets opened up conference play against Montana State on Thursday at The Nest in front of an energized crowd.

“I could go on and on about the energy, it was packed tonight,” sophomore libero Reese Ampi said. “The student athletes that showed up, every fan that showed up, were so supportive and everyone was so loud.”

The match started out close in the first set, but that all changed when the Hornets went on a 5-0 scoring run. The run started off with a Montana State Bobcat service error, giving the Hornets the 17-13 lead.

The rest of the first set, the Hornets capitalized on a handful of kills and service errors by the Bobcats.

Sac State won the first set 25-19 after a diving dig by Ampi set up the ball for a kill by senior outside hitter Caitlin Volkmann to the empty Bobcat back corner, causing the crowd to erupt.

The back and forth play continued into the second set, the only set of the match the Hornets had less kills and a lower hitting percentage then the Bobcats.

Sac State found themselves facing a Montana State match point, 15-24. Junior middle blocker Ashlynn Archer had a cross-court kill while moving to her right, giving the Hornets a fighting chance with another 5-0 run.

Despite the late Hornet push, the second set ended 21-25 on a kill by Bobcats’ junior outside hitter Madilyn Siebler that senior outside hitter Bridgette Smith wasn’t able to get in front of.

Despite the loss, the Hornets came out in the third set with an early 4-0 lead due to three Ampi service aces and the Hornets fast-paced play which had the Bobcats running around every inch of the court.

“We served them tough, so they were passing the ball kind of all over the place and having to hustle,” Sac State head coach Ruben Volta said.

Late in the third, the Bobcats went on a 3-0 run, leveling the playing field at 19. Sac State was first to break the tie. Montana State managed to creep their way back in, but Sac State always responded. The Hornets followed up a Bobcat kill with two back-to-back kills by Smith and Archer to end the third set, 25-22.

“We started turning up our serving at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth,” Volkmann said. “Then just the defense, we got a lot of balls up, which can frustrate a lot of teams.”

The fourth set was back and forth in the beginning, until after a long rally, junior setter Kate Doorn acted as if she was going to set the ball before turning her hand to get the kill, extending the Hornets lead to 23-15 on their sixth consecutive score.

Sac State won the match 25-17 with two back-to-back kills by sophomore middle blocker Karlie Spohn and Volkmann that the Bobcats weren’t able to keep in play.

“Throughout the game we were all locked in and determined to win because Montana State is a good team,” Volkmann said. “Last year we lost to them in the Big Sky Tournament, so it was kind of like trying to get our revenge.”

During the match, Ampi wasn’t afraid of getting dirty, keeping the ball alive with 17 digs overall.

“Reese and Abbey really went after it and we had a lot of off the block digs,” Volkmann said. ”So it can frustrate hitters which makes them try something new.”

Sac State finished with 63 kills, 72 digs, 12 blocks and a .281 hitting percentage compared to Montana State’s 46 kills, 62 digs, seven blocks and .164 hitting percentage.

“I think we really stepped on them tonight and worked together,” Ampi said.

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Saturday: Sac State: 3, Eastern Washington: 1

Sac State won their first road game of conference play against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Saturday, Sept. 28, handing the Eagles their second loss in conference play.

The first set started out and remained close to the last serve. The Hornets pulled ahead early thanks to a few kills, a block and service ace by Smith.

Halfway through the first set Smith jumped up the Sac State record books, now sitting fifth for career kills, surpassing the 1,500 mark.

“Honestly I try not to pay attention to those things, I like to focus on how we are doing as a team more,” Smith said. “It’s a cool accomplishment, I’m just ready to keep going with my girls.”

Despite committing 12 errors, the Hornets won the first set on a late 8-3 run that started with an Eagle attack error.

Sac State won 25-23 on a quick, uncontested kill by Spohn, which was set up by senior setter Hailey Plugge.

In the second set, the Hornets jumped out to an early 5-2 lead followed up by a 4-0 run, giving them the 13-9 lead off two Smith service aces. The Eagles looked confused on how to defend the Hornets and had a hard time getting control of the ball.

“Our serving definitely helped us a lot,” Plugge said. “I think we really got them out of system, so we made their offense very predictable.”

Junior libero Abbey Kadillak added to the Hornets lead in the second with a one-handed save that was almost a service ace for the Eagles. Volkmann was able to get the ball back over before Eagles junior middle blocker Bri Gunderson hit the ball too hard out of bounds.

Volkmann wrapped up the second set with an aggressive spike for a 25-23 Hornet win.

The Eagles found their footing in the third set and ran away with the lead after escaping a 7-7 tie.

Senior libero Makenna Collins got the Eagles going with an ace that junior outside hitter Greta Davis couldn’t keep alive in the corner, giving them a 10-7 lead.

The Hornets cut into the Eagles lead with a handful of kills and attack errors, but the Eagles finished them off with two consecutive service aces by sophomore outside hitter Kalista Lukovich, winning the set 21-25.

“In the set that we lost, our defense was lacking in serve receive so it was just hard to get in the groove,” Doorn said. “Once we kind of overcame that slump is when we really started to pull ahead.”

Sac State was ready to respond to the Eagles, going on an 8-0 run to start the fourth set with the ball in Smith’s hands at the service line. Smith had seven aces in the match, four of them coming at the start of the fourth set.

“Smith had a great serving run in the start of that set,” Doorn said. “Going into it, our mindset was ‘Let’s make them regret taking us to four.’”

That early lead propelled the Hornets to a 25-16 win off a dink by Spohn that found the open middle of the Eagles side of the court.

“A win off the first road game of conference is super important, super big,” Smith said. “We set a good tone on that one, but I think we know what to work on. I think it only fires us up for the next three home games.”

The Hornets will take on Portland State at 7 p.m. on Friday in the first match of a three-match homestand at The Nest.