OGDEN, Utah -- Sacramento State held a 2-1 lead in its Big Sky Conference Volleyball Tournament quarterfinal match, but Portland State won the final two sets - including a very tight 15-13 win in the fifth - and the Hornets saw their season come to an end. Final set scores were 25-18, 22-25, 17-25, 25-14, 15-13.

Portland State, the No. 3 seed at the three-day postseason event, will advance to tomorrow's semifinal round. Sacramento State, which finished the year in a tie for fourth place in the league standings, entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed. The Hornets defeated the Vikings in both regular season matches between the teams, but Portland State found a way to inch past Sacramento State today.

Things were looking good for a third straight win over the Vikings after the Hornets won the third set convincingly to take a 2-1 lead. However, behind the strength of an 8-0 run in the fourth set, the Vikings regained momentum with a victorious 25-14 frame. That set up a fifth set that saw neither team lead by more than two points the majority of the way. An Ashtin Olin ace gave the Hornets a 10-9 lead, but Portland State answered with a 5-1 run to take a 14-11 lead. Sacramento State made things interesting by winning the next two points, but a Maddy Reeb kill put the match away. The Vikings' Parker Webb combined for 10 kills in the final two sets, including five kills and a .556 hitting percentage in the fifth.

Sacramento State had been the hottest team in the Big Sky, having won eight of its last nine matches. That included 3-0 (home) and 3-1 (road) wins over Portland State over the last five weeks. But beating a very good team three times in the same season is never an easy feat, and the Vikings (19-9, 12-4) will play again tomorrow in the semifinal round at 3 p.m. PST.

The Hornets finish the season 16-12 overall, 10-6 in league play, and 12-4 at home. Remarkably, of the Hornets' seven home wins over Big Sky competition, all seven came via three-set sweep. That includes sweeps of the first (Weber State), second (Northern Colorado), and third (Portland State) place teams.

After Portland State hit a whopping .517 in the first set, the Hornet defense limited the Vikings to percentages of .095, -.025 and .132 in the next three sets, respectively. The Vikings finished the match hitting .173 while the Hornets hit .156. Sacramento State had 13 team blocks, but Portland State finished with more kills (61-55), aces (6-3) and digs (84-69).

For the Hornets, Bridgette Smith, fresh off being named first team all-Big Sky earlier this week, finished with 20 kills and 10 digs. She was one shy of her career high, but PSU held the outside hitter to three kills over the final two sets. Middle blocker Kalani Hayes had a season-high 11 kills to go with six blocks and a .368 hitting percentage. Rightside hitter Caitlin Volkmann also played well with 10 kills and a career-high tying seven blocks.

Middle blocker Cianna Andrews had seven kills and three blocks, outside hitter Macey Hayden finished with three kills and eight digs, and rightside Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin three kills and a pair of blocks. Four Sacramento State players finished with double digits in digs, including libero Caty Cordano's team-best 17. Both setters had double-doubles - Ashtin Olin (24 assists, 12 digs) and McKenna Smith (17 assists, 11 digs). Michelle Taynton had two digs.

For the Vikings, Webb had a team-high 16 kills (10 in the final two sets), and Reeb finished with 12 kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Libero Ellie Snook had a match-high 21 digs.

Today marked the final match in the careers of Sacramento State seniors Hayden, Andrews, Taynton, Sarah Falk and Claudia Wilson. Andrews finished her career with 681 kills and 310 blocks, while Hayden finishes with 618 kills and 797 digs.