Sacramento State Hornets volleyball defeated the Portland State Vikings in a clean sweep on Friday, Oct. 4 in The Nest.

Going into this match both Portland State and Sac State were 2-0 in conference play.

“We came in here knowing that they came off a couple wins and we knew we had to fight and we did,” senior outside hitter Caitlin Volkmann said.

With the win, the Hornets are the only team that remains undefeated in Big Sky Conference play.

First Set: 25-14 Sac State

The match started out close with a Portland State 6-4 lead, headed up by senior outside hitter Carisa Barron’s three kills.

The Hornets gained momentum after a 13-0 run led by Volkmann’s hard serving and smart defensive plays which gave them the 17-6 lead over the Vikings.

“She was doing that and she was moving it around,” Sac State head coach Ruben Volta said. “That kind of fired us up a lot and got the crowd going.”

Volkmann had three service aces and made the Vikings look discombobulated, scoring off of seven attack errors.

“It felt good, our block and stuff when the balls were coming over, everyone was still engaged and we just kept putting it down and they couldn’t get it over,” Volkmann said.

The Hornets secured the 25-14 set win with a Volkmann kill that had the Vikings’ sophomore libero Paige Stepaniuk rolling to keep the ball alive as the ball landed just to her right.

Second Set: 25-19 Sac State

The Vikings once again got out to an early lead off of two service aces by redshirt senior outside hitter Makayla Lewis and an attack error by the Hornets’ senior outside hitter Bridgette Smith that went into the net.

Sac State went on a 3-0 scoring run, capped off with a block assist by sophomore middle blocker Karlie Spohn and junior setter Kate Doorn that found the empty middle of Portland State’s half, giving them the 8-7 lead.

“I felt really confident, I feel like we went in with a powerful intention,” Spohn said. “We were ready to play, we didn’t look down on them at all.”

The Hornets’ teamwork shined through with a diving dig from sophomore libero Reese Ampi that junior middle blocker Ashlynn Archer kept alive with a one handed dig after it hit the net and allowed Doorn to hit back over.

The rally continued and the Vikings hit the ball back over the net to the Hornets, where Doorn set up the ball for a Volkmann kill that Portland State tipped out of bounds, giving the Hornets a 17-11 lead.

“We served really tough and that gave them problems that just fed into our blocking and defense,” Volta said.

A spike by Smith was dug up by Portland State’s Stepaniuk, and as the Vikings senior setter Ella Hartford attempted to hit the ball over the net, the Hornets’ senior outside hitter Ellie Tisko secured set point with a quick kill from right over the net.

Smith gave the Hornets the 25-19 win with a kill that bounced off the hand of the Viking’s freshman middle blocker Reese Biesemeyer and then off the hand of Barron in the back row.

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Third Set: 25-14 Sac State

Like the first two sets, the third started close before the Hornets found their footing and held the lead to the end.

The Hornets went on a 6-0 scoring run thanks to a Tisko kill, three Viking attack errors and two kills by Volkmann, giving Sac State a 12-5 lead.

Spohn brought the defense for the Hornets, ending the night with seven blocks.

Volkmann teamed up with Spohn for the first block to keep a long rally alive and then Spohn teamed up with Doorn along the sideline to block two consecutive would-be kills for the Vikings.

“It was an important part of the game because you needed to shut down their middle and outsides in order to win,” Spohn said.

Sac State went on a late 4-0 run kicked off by a Viking service error, landing outside the court. Doorn and Smith added to this scoring run, earning a kill each and adding to the Hornets lead.

Spohn and Doorn claimed match point with another block, which the Vikings had a hard time getting back over the net and eventually landed out of bounds.

After match point Barron gave the Vikings a little bit of hope, getting a kill after Spohn and Doorn tried to block the ball which landed just behind them.

The Hornets secured the 25-14 match win after the Viking’s Biesmeyer served the ball straight into the net.

“It feels good to be 3-0 and it’s good to start the season off right,” Volkmann said. “Next week, I think we’re home again, so that’ll be really exciting. Then we have a couple road matches, but we’re excited to keep it rolling.”

The Hornets will continue their three game homestand against Northern Arizona University on Thursday at 7 p.m.