The Hornets returned home to The Nest where they swept the Idaho Vandals 3-0 on Thursday and won 3-1 in a fight to the end against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Saturday.

These wins came after Sac State dropped the last two games of their three-game road trip against Weber State and Idaho State.

With the wins the Hornets moved to fourth place with a 7-3 record in the Big Sky Conference heading into their final road trip of the regular season.

Thursday: Sac State: 3, Idaho: 0

After coming back from a tough three-game road trip, the Hornets handed the Vandals their tenth loss of conference play and 20th of the season.

“I felt very level headed, because yesterday we had a very intense practice because we came back from [2] L’s in a row,” sophomore middle blocker Karlie Spohn said.

Sac State had 47 kills, eight blocks and a .400 hitting percentage compared to Idaho’s 23 kills, three blocks and .100 hitting percentage.

“We started off really well. I thought passing and playing defense, we attacked at a really high level,” Sac State head coach Ruben Volta said. “Just hoping to try and sustain a high level of play.”

The Hornets out-scored the Vandals throughout all three sets in an effort led by senior outside hitter Bridgette Smith who had 17 kills, eight of them in the first set.

“Foot on the gas the whole time, just staying determined throughout the whole match,” Smith said. “I don’t think it was our cleanest match, so just trying to find ways to improve that as we went on.”

The Vandals took an early 3-0 lead before the Hornets answered back with four consecutive kills to pull ahead 4-3.

With the score tied at 6 in the first set, the Hornets went on three separate scoring runs led by a Spohn dink that barely landed inside the Vandals’ attack line and out of the reach of diving sophomore diagonal Zuzanna Wieczorek.

Sac State dominated the first set, winning 25-13 thanks to the Hornets’ 20 kills to the Vandals seven.

The Vandals led most of the beginning of the second set, but Smith’s effort to keep the ball alive on a long rally set up senior hitter Ellie Tisko for the kill that gave the Hornets the lead for good.

“I was just hoping that I would land gracefully, sometimes you just got to go for it no matter what,” Smith said. “I could have made an error just trying to play it safe.”

The Hornets found themselves on a 13-1 scoring run in set two, leading to a 25-18 win.

Sac State secured the win in set three off an 8-0 run led by Spohn who tallied three kills and two blocks for the 25-14 win.

“I was just making sure that I was up,” Spohn said. “I was super excited, I was ready to go.”

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Saturday: Sac State: 3, Eastern Washington: 1

In the final game of their two-game homestand the Hornets looked to add another loss to the Eagles’ 6-5 conference record.

Tisko and junior middle blocker Ashlynn Archergot got the block party started for the Hornets and finished the night with a combined 18 blocks.

“We practice that so much, especially that rotation. Me and Archie, over the past three years, have built a lot of chemistry,” Tisko said. “Her finally playing this year, and us going next to each other, just big communication and talking.”

Eastern Washington controlled most of the first set, not allowing Sac State to get out on any long scoring runs and won the first set 23-25, taking advantage of the Hornets 10 attack errors.

“Eastern is a really good blocking team, and we struggled with it,” Volta said. “Then for some reason, we decided to make a bunch of hitting errors and the match was a little crazy today, a little up and down.”

The Hornets dominated in the beginning of the second set with a 7-1 lead thanks to three consecutive service aces by Smith However, Sac State found themselves in trouble after Eastern Washington went on a 13-0 scoring run in the second set with 11 points caused by Hornet attack errors.

Down 19-10 with their backs against the wall, the Hornets dug deep and went on two scoring runs to tie the set at 21-21.

The Hornets 25-23 comeback win came off a kill by senior outside hitter Caitlin Volkmann. The Eagles’ redshirt junior middleblockers Tanai Jenkins and Bri Gunderson attempted to block the ball, but it bounced wrong off their hands and l landed out of bounds.

“I just looked at everyone and was like ‘Let’s go, we’re doing this,’” Archer said. “It’s not a choice right now, we have to do this because I feel like it’s so hard to come back after losing the first two so I was like ‘we have to do this right now.’”

The third set was back and forth, getting tied up 10 different times. However, the Hornets ultimately won 25-22 on a service ace from junior setter Kate Doorn. The hit floated over the net, off the hands of the Eagles’ sophomore outside hitter Kalista Lukovich and onto the ground.

Sac State turned things around in the fourth set and committed a set low of five errors to match their 10 kills and six blocks.

With the score tied at 7-7, Doorn had three-consecutive service aces that just glanced off the Eagles’ hands.

Sac State increased the margin late in the set, going on a run that gave the Hornets a nine point lead after three Hornet kills and three Eagles’ attack errors.

The Hornets maintained the lead to the very end, securing a four set victory, 25-17, on a powerful attempted kill by Gunderson that landed out of bounds.

“We kind of had a mid-season slump, so coming home and getting a reset and getting these two wins, preparing us for the next four games, I feel like that was really important,” Tisko said.

The Hornets will head to Colorado to take on the Northern Colorado Bears at 5 p.m. on Thursday, beginning a four game road trip.