Full set of game notes (7 pages) - pdf
Sacramento State Invitational Home Page

The Week Ahead

• The Hornets will host their second tournament of the young season when the team host the Sacramento State Invitational this Friday and Saturday at Colberg Court.
• The four-team tournament will feature six matches over two days - two on Friday, four on Saturday - and Sacramento State will be joined by Nevada, UC Riverside and Seattle. Each team will play once on Friday and twice on Saturday.
• Game times will be 4:30 and 7:00 p.m. on Friday, and 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 5 p.m, and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Sacramento State opens the tournament on Friday against Nevada at 7 p.m., followed by Saturday vs. UC Riverside at noon and Seattle at 7:30 p.m.
• The four teams will bring a combined record of 15-11 into tournament play, including Sacramento State (3-5), Nevada (5-1), UC Riverside (4-2) and Seattle (3-3).
• The Hornets are 1-3 at home this season, including a 1-2 mark at the season-opening Hornet Invitational. Sacramento State defeated Utah State at home to open the year, but has since lost to CSUN, Arizona and UC Davis inside the Nest. The Hornets did have a match point against CSUN.

This Week's Multimedia Options

• Free live video streams will be offered for all six matches of the tournament via watchbigsky.com.
• In addition, live stats will be offered for all six matches.
• All multimedia options can be found on the tournament home page by clicking here.
• Multimedia options (video, live stats) for all Sacramento State matches can be accessed to the right of each match on the volleyball schedule at www.hornetsports.com.

vs. This Week's Opponents

• Sacramento State is 35-12 all-time against Nevada, but the two teams have split their last eight meetings dating back to 2007. At home, the Hornets are 20-2 against the Wolf Pack, and Sacramento State had won 18 straight at home prior to a Nevada win inside the Nest in 2007.
• The Hornets are 8-6 against UC Riverside, and the teams will play one another for the first time since a 3-1 SAC win in Fresno in 2015. Sacramento State is 3-3 at home against the Highlanders with the teams' last meeting in the Nest resulting in a 3-2 UCR win in 2009.
• The Hornets' four-set over Seattle last year in Kentucky marked the first time the two teams had ever faced each other. In that match, Sacramento State was victorious by a 25-14, 25-17, 27-29, 25-22 score. Mikaela Nocetti had 15 kills and nine digs in the win while Lana Brown had 12 kills, five blocks and a .579 hitting percentage.

Close Sets Becoming the Norm

• Of the Hornets' last 12 sets played (spanning three matches), seven have been decided by just two points.
• That includes last weekend's 25-23, 28-26, 27-25 win over UC Santa Barbara.
• However, since that three-set win over the Gauchos, Sacramento State has lost 25-23 sets on four occasions. That includes Saturday's five-set loss to Denver in which the Hornets lost the first and third sets by 25-23 scores. In Tuesday's 3-1 loss to rival UC Davis, Sacramento State lost both the first and second sets by 25-23 outcomes.

Strong Defense, Offense Still Coming Around

• Sacramento State is holding the opposition to a .177 hitting percentage this season. Only one Hornet opponent has hit better than .230 (Denver .277), and four opponents have been limited to hitting percentages below .190.
• The Hornets have five players averaging better than two digs per set, including Paige Swinney (4.72), Sarah Davis (2.88), Skyler Takeda (2.66), Mikaela Nocetti (2.53) and Macey Hayden (2.23).
• In addition, the Hornets are third in the Big Sky in blocking at 2.48 per set, led by middle blockers Lana Brown (1.22 blocks per set) and Brie Gathright (1.00 blocks per set).
• However, the Hornets are hitting just .165 as a team, and have been held under .200 on four occasions. The offense has shown sign of improvement, hitting for a .203 percentage over the last four matches, after hitting just .127 through the first four matches of the season

Hornet Notables

• Defensive specialist Skyler Takeda continues to assert herself as one of the nation's best servers, as she is now seventh in the nation with an average of 0.78 aces per set. She has at least two aces in five straight matches, and has tallied 19 aces over that span. That includes seven at Denver, tied for the second best single-match mark in school history.
• Outside hitter Mikaela Nocetti has at least 11 kills in each of the last four matches, including 22 on Tuesday vs UC Davis. During that four-match span, she is averaging nearly four kills per set (3.94). Overall this year, she ranks fifth in the Big Sky with 3.43 kills per set.
• Sacramento State needs just four wins to reach 1,000 in program history. Currently, the team is 996-453 all-time, good for a .687 winning percentage.
• Over the last two matches, middle blocker Lana Brown is hitting .488 (23-2-43) with an average of 2.56 kills per set. That included a season-high 15 kills and .500 hitting percentage at Denver. She has raised her hitting percentage to .308, which is the seventh best mark in the Big Sky.
• Setter Ashtin Olin has finished just three kills shy of a triple-double on two occasions this year (vs. Arizona and McNeese State). The last triple-double recorded by a Sacramento State player came on Oct. 16, 2003, when Lisa Beauchene had 10 kills, 40 assists and 13 digs vs. Weber State.
• Libero Paige Swinney has posted double figures in digs in all but one match this year, and her team-best average of 4.72 digs per set ranks sixth in the Big Sky.
• In the Hornets' three wins, Sacramento State has limited each of those opponents to hitting percentages of .100 or lower -- UC Santa Barbara (.100), McNeese State (.090) and Utah State (.060).