The Week Ahead

• Sacramento State (14-13, 10-5) will play its final match of the regular season Friday vs. Portland State (15-11, 10-5) in the Nest at 7 p.m. Friday will also mark the final time the Hornets will play in the Nest.
• Prior to the match, senior setter Ashtin Olin will be honored for her contributions to the program. Olin is already a four-time second team all-Big Sky Conference selection, and has, once again, been a major contributor to the Hornets' success this season.
• Sacramento State is currently tied for third place in the league standings with Portland State, making Friday's matchup a big one for seeding purposes at next week's Big Sky Tournament in Ogden, Utah.
• The top eight teams in the Big Sky qualify for the postseason event, which begins on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (Nov. 23). Semifinals are Friday and championship match on Saturday.
• With a win vs. PSU, the Hornets will either be the No. 2 or 3 seed (likely the No. 3) at the Big Sky Tournament. Northern Colorado (11-3) sits in first and controls its own destiny for the No. 1 seed.  Weber State is second at 10-4. The Hornets do not own the tiebreaker against either of those schools.
• A loss against Portland State, and the Hornets would be the No. 4 seed. So, depending on Friday night's outcome, the Hornets could finish as high as the No. 2 seed or as low as the No. 4 seed.
• Most likely, the Hornets will be playing either Montana or Montana State in the quarterfinal round of the Big Sky Tournament.
• The Hornets have now won 10 conference matches three consecutive years, and a win Friday would give the team 11 league wins for the first time since the 2018 squad went 11-6.
• Sacramento State is 6-1 at home this year vs. Big Sky teams, and has won 13 of the last 14 dating back to last season. The only loss to a conference foe this year at home came against Northern Colorado.
• Overall, the Hornets have won three straight matches, and four of the last five heading into Friday.

Multimedia Options

• Every match the remainder of the season will be streamed live on ESPN+ as all home matches, and every contest played at a Big Sky venue will be streamed on the network. Video streams can be found on watchespn.com and the ESPN app. The Big Sky Tournament will also be aired on ESPN+.
• Reminder that all multimedia links, including video and live stats, can be found next to each game on the volleyball schedule at hornetsports.com.
• Live stats will be provided for every match - home, away and neutral.

vs. This Week's Opponent

• Portland State will be playing its regular season finale and enter Friday with a 15-11 overall record and 10-5 conference mark. The Vikings sat in first place in the Big Sky the majority of the season, but have lost four of their last five. That includes a shocking home loss to Eastern Washington on Saturday.
• The Vikings are 4-3 on the road vs. Big Sky foes, but have dropped two straight.
• Sacramento State lost to the Vikings in Portland on Oct. 22 in four sets. In that match, the Hornets were playing without their starting libero (Caty Cordano) and fell in the fourth set by a 27-25 score.
• The Hornets will be playing Portland State for the 77th time in their long-standing rivalry. That is the second most matches against any opponent, trailing only the Hornets vs. UC Davis (78 matches).
• Sacramento State is 50-26 all-time against the Vikings, and the teams have split the last eight meetings against each other. Of those eight meetings, six were decided in either four or five sets.
• The Hornets are 25-5 against Portland State at home, and have won seven of the last eight meetings in the Nest. The only PSU win in the Nest over the last eight years came during the pandemic sparked spring season of 2021.

Ashtin Olin - Playing Final Home Match

• Setter Ashtin Olin is in her sixth year with the program, having stepped foot on campus in 2017.
• She redshirted in 2017, and is currently playing her fifth straight season, all as the Hornets' starting setter. She was able to play an extra year because of the pandemic which deemed the 2021 spring season not countable against a collegiate volleyball player's eligibility clock.
• Olin has been named second team all-Big Sky Conference each of her first four seasons, and will likely garner some form of all-conference nod again this year. That would make her a five time all-conference selection, a very rare collegiate feat.
• Olin has career numbers of 248 kills, 4,215 assists, 1,168 digs, 142 aces and 255 blocks. The assists are the seventh best mark in program history, and the aces are ninth most. Her career averages are 0.51 kills, 8.67 assists, 2.40 digs, 0.29 aces and 0.52 blocks per set.
• Olin has led the Hornets to a 50-32 conference record as the team's starting setter.

Notables

• The Hornets currently have four players that rank among the nation's top 50 players in different categories. Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin is 31st in blocks (126), Bridgette Smith is 47th in aces (43), Ashtin Olin is 47th in assists (1,003), and Kalani Hayes is 50th in blocks (119).
• Libero Caty Cordano, who recently notched her 1,000th career dig, is currently trailing Portland State libero Ellie Snook by one-tenth of a dig in the battle for the league lead (in conference play). Snook is averaging 4.98 per set, and Cordano sits at 4.88. The two will be on the same floor on Friday night.
• Middle blocker Kalani Hayes, who registered her 500th career kill on Saturday, continues to absolutely dominate at home. In 11 home matches, she is hitting .458 with averages of 2.08 kills and 1.48 blocks per set. She has hit better than .300 in all but one of those matchups. Her average of 1.27 blocks in league play is the second mark in the Big Sky.
• Outside hitter Bridgette Smith, who already has 827 career kills despite playing only 70 career matches, ranks third in the Big Sky with 3.59 kills per set in league play. The six rotation outside hitter and reigning first team all-conference selection has registered double figures in kills in 12 of the Hornets' 15 matches against league opposition.
• Middle blocker Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin has put together a very nice season, and currently ranks fourth in the Big Sky (league play) in both hitting percentage (.341) and blocks per set (1.16). Kamba-Griffin has hit at least .500 in three of the last four matches, which included a career-high 15.5 points in Saturday's match against Idaho - 10 kills, nine blocks and a .533 hitting percentage.
• Rightside hitter Caitlin Volkmann, fresh off 10 kills, nine digs and a .563 hit% vs. Idaho, is now hitting .258 in league play with 2.64 kills and 1.50 digs per set. She has been called on to play back row as well each of the last seven matches and has responded with 50 digs over that span.
• In league play, Sacramento State is tops in the Big Sky holding opponents to a .154 hitting percentage. A big part of that is the team also leading the league in blocks with 2.78 per set.