SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Down a set, and trailing in the second frame, 21-16, the Hornets stormed back to eventually defeat Kent State, 3-1 (27-29, 25-22, 25-19, 25-13), in the second round of the Sacramento State Volleyball Invitational Saturday afternoon at the Nest.

The win sets up a championship showdown at 7:30 p.m. tonight featuring the Hornets (13-1) and Santa Clara (8-3). Both teams are 2-0 thus far at the two-day tournament, and the winner will be crowned Sacramento State Invitational champions. Kent State and Nevada, who are both 0-2 at the tournament, will face each other at 5 p.m. For complete tournament information, including results, please click here.

The good times continue to roll for a Sacramento State team that has now won 12 straight matches, the fifth longest winning streak in the program's Div. I era (1991-pres.). That includes a 3-1 victory last night against Nevada to open tournament play. Only two teams in the history of the volleyball program at Sacramento State have started a season with a 13-1 record, comprised of the 1981 squad (19-1) and the 1995 team (16-1).

Today's victory came over a Kent State squad (5-6) that won the first set, 29-27, and stormed out to a 21-16 lead in the second set. However, the Hornets finished the frame on a 9-1 run and never looked back, winning both the third and fourth sets in relatively easy fashion. During that 9-1 run, four different Hornets had kills, including Courtney Dietrich (2), Morgan Stanley (2, both out of the back row), Shannon Boyle (1) and Lauren Kissell (1).

Sacramento State hit a season-high .393 as five of the six starters hit better than .345. Dietrich was incredible, finishing with a career-high 12 kills to go along with a .600 hitting percentage (12-0-20) and four blocks. Middle blocker Madeline Cannon (12 kills, .476 hit%), and outside hitters Kissell (15 kills, .382), Sloan Lovett (18 kills, .349) and Stanley (3 kills, .427) all hit for high percentages. Setter Kennedy Kurtz had another big match, finishing with two kills, a .667 hitting percentage, 57 assists, a pair of aces and 11 digs.

The Hornets had 69 kills with just 10 errors in 150 total attacks. Sacramento State also had 56 digs, 10.0 team blocks and was able to win despite a high number of service errors (10). Kissell had four blocks, including three solos while Lovett and Dietrich also added four blocks. Once again, libero Lexie Skalbeck led the team in digs with 17. Boyle finished with seven kills, nine digs and two blocks.

Three Kent State players finished with double figures in kills, comprised of Kelsey Bittinger (20), Bridget Wilhelm (10) and Amy Kober (10). Bittinger also had a .404 hitting percentage, which included just one error in 47 total swings.