Big Sky standings

MISSOULA, Mont. -- Sacramento State had four players finish with double figures in kills, and went on to defeat Montana, 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23), in a Big Sky Conference volleyball matchup Sunday evening at Dahlberg Arena.

The Hornets, who were playing their second to last match of the regular season, improved to 9-6 overall and 9-6 in the Big Sky. Sacramento State will face Montana again in the regular season finale tomorrow at 6 p.m. PDT.

Regardless of tomorrow's outcome, Sacramento State will play Northern Arizona (9-5, 9-5) in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament on March 31 in Greeley, Colo. A win tomorrow would allow the Hornets to be the No. 4 seed in the single elimination tournament and face No. 5 Northern Arizona. A loss, and the Hornets would be the 5 seed and the Lumberjacks would be the 4 seed.

In today's match, the Hornets used a 14-5 run to close the second set, and an 11-3 run to close the fourth. Sacramento State dominated the match statistically, finishing with 20 more kills than Montana (62-42) and six more blocks (12.0-6.0). In addition, the Hornets hit .202 compared to Montana's .147.

Sacramento State, which had run a 6-2 offense in every match this season, played today's game without the services of setter McKenna Smith (injury). That pushed Ashtin Olin into a full rotation setter role, and the junior responded with six kills, a .364 hitting percentage, 50 assists, two aces, 13 digs and six blocks. The kills, assists and blocks were all season highs.

In addition, freshman middle blocker Kalani Hayes finished with her first double-double with 13 kills, a .308 hitting percentage and 10 blocks. Five of those blocks came in the fourth set. It marked the second time this season Hayes has posted double digits in blocks, which included 10 in a four-set home win over Idaho on Feb. 14.

Freshman outside hitter Bridgette Smith had a match-high 17 kills to along with nine digs. Freshman Caitlin Volkmann posted 12 kills and three blocks, and had the match-clinching kill at 24-23 of the fourth set. Senior Macey Hayden posted 10 kills and 11 digs (her sixth double-double of the season) and libero Caty Cordano led all players with 24 digs. For Cordano, it marked her fourth consecutive match with 20-plus digs.
Defensive specialist Paige Swinney added 11 digs, and middles Sarah Falk and Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin both had two kills and a block.

The loss dropped Montana to 2-13 overall and 2-13 in league play. Sophia Meyers was the only Griz player to post double digits in kills, and she finished with 12.