All tied up at 22 in the fourth and final set, sophomore outside hitter Victoria Marthaler punched home her 27th kill of the night to give Sacramento State the lead.
The point kickstarted a 3-0 run to clinch the win over the Portland State Vikings.
In a fitting ending, Marthaler’s career-high 28th kill would be the winning point, giving the Hornets the 3-1 win in a closer game than the score would reflect.
“This team and the [staff] have helped so much,” Marthaler said. “Knowing they have my back on good days and even bad days helps immensely.”
Marthaler’s career game didn’t end there, topping her previous career-high nine digs and setting her new high with 14. Marthaler, a transfer from Weber State, has been a key to the offense for the Hornets, averaging 6.3 kills per set. She has scored more than 17 kills over the last four matches, including two 3-set sweeps.
With Marthaler powering the attack, senior setter Kate Doorn did a great job keeping the offense flowing with a game-high 46 assists.
“The key to setting up my hitters is when I find what is working well,” Doorn said. “In this game specifically, I felt like I found the recipe early on so I stuck with what was successful.”
The game itself started with a dominant first set from the Hornets, who went on a 10-3 run at one point to win 25-18. The second set was much tighter, with the Hornets’ biggest lead coming after a 3-point run that made it 14-9.
The Vikings fought back, tying it at 15, and the two teams continued to exchange points. After the Vikings took a 23-22 lead, Marthaler led a clutch comeback and scored two of the last three points to win the set, 25-23.
Set three played out similarly, with neither team gaining more than a 3-point advantage. The difference came in the final points.
After the Hornets took a 21-20 lead, the Vikings ripped off four straight points to set up the match point and closed it out, 25-22. The Vikings proved to be a tough out in the final set, coming back down 21-15 and tying it at 22. Marthaler handled it from there.
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Players and coaches mentioned that defense was a focal point for the Hornets and it showed with their season-high 73 digs.
“It was a really good night for us defensively,” Hornet head coach Ruben Volta said. “We kept rallies alive and had [five] players in double digits in digs.”
Doorn reinforced that defensive mindset.
“We knew from the start that this game was going to be a fight and every point mattered,” Doorn said. “As soon as our defense started clicking, it continued to get better throughout the game.”
The team will hope to build on this as their road trip continues on Thursday in Northern Colorado at 5 p.m. with the match streaming on ESPN+.
“We have a hard travel week ahead of us with some big teams, so getting this win will help keep that momentum going,” Marthaler said.
