SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento State's Lauren Kissell had a match-high 18 kills and the Hornets posted a school-record tying 15 aces on the way to a 3-1 victory over Weber State on Thursday evening at the Nest. Match scores were 25-9, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17.

The Hornets had 12 aces by the end of the second set, and finished with 15, the most in program history in a four-set match. Overall, the 15 aces tied the school record, originally set at home against Manhattan on Sept. 8, 2007. Five different Sacramento State players had at least two aces, led by middle blocker Madeline Cannon's five.

With the victory, the Hornets won their seventh straight match while improving to 23-5 overall and 10-3 in the Big Sky. Sacramento State also clinched a spot in the Big Sky Tournament, and will compete in the league's postseason event for the first time since 2011.

The 23 wins are the most for the Hornets since the 2007 season, and the 23-5 record ties the best mark after 28 matches in the last 20 years (the 2006 team was also 23-5; the 1995 team was 25-3). In addition, Sacramento State continued its home dominance, improving to 10-1 at the Nest and 7-0 against Big Sky competition inside the friendly confines.

The winning streak, which began with a 3-1 victory over Northern Colorado on Oct. 15, has seen the Hornets win by 3-0 or 3-1 scores in each of the seven wins.

With three matches remaining in the regular season, the Hornets sit two games behind Northern Arizona (12-1) and one game behind Idaho State (11-2) in the Big Sky's South Division standings. Both Northern Arizona and Idaho State won tonight. However, Sacramento State still plays once more against both teams, including Saturday night in the final regular season home match of the year vs. Idaho State. The winner of the Big Sky's regular season championship gains the right to host the conference tournament (Nov. 19-21).

Weber State, which lost its 13th in a row, dropped to 5-20 and 1-12 in the Big Sky. The Hornets swept the season series against Weber State (3-0 win in Ogden), and now own a 33-10 all-time record against the Wildcats.

Sacramento State had 17 more kills than Weber State (52-35), and also held substantial advantages over the Wildcats in hitting percentage (.276-.152), assists (45-35), aces (15-5) and team blocks (11.0-5.0). Of the Hornets' 11.0 team blocks, four were solo stuffs.

Kissell's 18 kills were seven more than any other player on the floor as she hit .268 with a pair of blocks. She was joined in double-figure kills by Cannon (11 kills, .421 hitting percentage) and Sloan Lovett (10 kills, two aces, three blocks). Cannon posted match highs in both aces (5) and blocks (5), and the aces set her new career high.

Cannon (5), setter Kennedy Kurtz (3), libero Lexie Skalbeck (3), Lovett (2) and outside hitter Morgan Stanley (2) accounted for the team's 15 aces. Stanley also had eight kills and eight digs, Kurtz 40 assists and 10 digs, and Skalbeck had a team-best 12 digs. Making her second start of the season at middle blocker in place of injured Courtney Dietrich (knee), true freshman Brie Gathright had two kills, three blocks and a .400 hitting percentage. Defensive specialist Brigitte Murdock added nine digs.

For Weber State, Amanda Varley had a team-high 11 kills while Thamires Cavalcanti led all players with 17 digs.

The Hornets conclude the home portion of the regular season schedule vs. Idaho State on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. Prior to the match, Hornet seniors Lauren Aikels, Lovett and Kissell will be honored for their contributions to the program.

NOTES -- Tonight was Alumni Appreciation Night, and a number of former players as well as former coach Debby Colberg and Weidi Zhang were in attendance…the group was introduced to the crowd between the first and second sets and received a standing ovation.