The Week Ahead

• Winners of three of the last four matches, Sacramento State (14-14, 10-6) will compete in this week's Big Sky Conference Tournament in Ogden, Utah.
• The top eight teams in the 10-member league qualify for the postseason event, and this will mark the 22nd time the Hornets will play in the Big Sky Tournament since joining the league in 1996.
• The tournament will be played Wednesday-Saturday, and Weber State is host based on winning last year's Big Sky regular season championship. Wednesday features four quarterfinal matches, followed by an off day for Thanksgiving, Friday's semifinal matches and Saturday's championship.
• Sacramento State will be the No. 4 seed at the tournament and take on No. 5 Montana (17-11, 10-6) on Wednesday at noon PST. The Hornets and Griz are the second match of the tournament.
• Other Wednesday quarterfinal matches are No. 1 Northern Colorado (19-8, 13-3) vs. No. 8 Idaho State (13-16, 5-11) at 9 a.m. PST, No. 2 Portland State (16-11, 11-5) vs. No. 7 Eastern Washington (11-17, 6-10) at 3 p.m. PST, and No. 3 Weber State (17-10, 11-5) vs. No. 6 Montana State (13-15, 9-7) at 6 p.m. PST.
• The winner of the Sacramento State-Montana matchup will play in Friday's first semifinal at 2 p.m. PST against either Northern Colorado or Idaho State. The other semifinal will play at 5 p.m. PST.
• The Hornets defeated Montana in both regular season meetings, winning in four sets in both Sacramento and Missoula. The Grizzlies lost just six league matches, two of which came against the Hornets. In fact, the Hornets and Weber State were the only two teams the Griz lost twice against in the Big Sky.
• The championship match will take place on Saturday at 5 p.m. PST.
• The winner of the Big Sky Tournament receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, a place the Hornets haven't been since 2007. Northern Colorado is the defending Big Sky Tourney champions.
• The NCAA Tournament's field of 64 has taken just one team from the Big Sky 22 consecutive years, making the Big Sky Tournament that much more important.
• Sacramento State finished the regular season 7-5 at home, 7-5 on the road and 0-4 on neutral floors.
• The Hornets won four of their final six conference matches after beginning with a 6-4 league mark.
• Sacramento State has now finished 10-6 in Big Sky play three consecutive seasons, but has not advanced past the quarterfinal round since 2017.
• The Hornets went 0-5 against the tournament's top three seeds, and 10-1 against everyone else.

Hornets At The Big Sky Tournament

• Currently in their 27th season in the Big Sky, the Hornets are making their 22nd appearance at the Big Sky Tournament, and have posted a 24-12 record at the postseason event.
• The Hornets have won the Big Sky Tournament title nine times (1997-98, 2000, 2002-07).
• That included a run of 12 consecutive victories spanning six years from 2002-07.
• Of the team's 21 appearances at the tourney, Sacramento State has reached the championship match 12 times with the only exceptions coming in 1999, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
• Of those 21 appearances, the Hornets failed to reach at least the semifinal round just five times (2008, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021).

Multimedia Options

• Every match of the Big Sky Tournament will be streamed on ESPN+.
• ESPN+ has been the home for Sacramento State video streams all season. Two years ago, the Big Sky entered into a multi-year media rights agreement with the platform. The subscription-based service streams on watchespn.com and the ESPN App.
• Live stats will be made available for every match of the tournament.
• Multimedia links can be found next to each match on the volleyball schedule at hornetsports.com.

vs. Tournament Field (this year, all-time, Big Sky Tourney)

• Of the seven opponents Sacramento State could face in the Big Sky Tournament, the Hornets have a combined record of 6-6 this season.
• The Hornets are a combined 19-6 in Big Sky Tourney play against the seven teams they could face.
• #1 Northern Colorado: 0-2 this year, 15-19 all-time, 3-1 in the Big Sky Tourney.
• #2 Portland State: 0-2 this year, 50-27 all-time, 2-2 in the Big Sky Tourney.
• #3 Weber State: 0-1 this year, 40-16 all-time, never played in the Big Sky Tourney.
• #5 Montana: 2-0 this year, 37-15 all-time, 1-0 in the Big Sky Tourney.
• #6 Montana State: 1-1 this year, 48-10 all-time, 6-1 in the Big Sky Tourney.
• #7 Eastern Washington: 1-0 this year, 41-18 all-time, 6-1 in the Big Sky Tourney.
• #8 Idaho State: 2-0 this year, 40-16 all-time, 1-1 in the Big Sky Tourney.

History Against The Big Sky Conference

• Since joining the Big Sky in 1996, Sacramento State is 294-138 in conference play, which breaks down to a .681 winning percentage.
• The Hornets won the Big Sky's regular season and/or tournament championships 11 straight years from 1997-07. Between 1999 and 2007, the Hornets won 59 straight home matches vs. Big Sky teams.
• Sacramento State's last Big Sky crown was a 2017 regular season championship, prior to falling in five sets in that season's Big Sky Tournament title match at home to North Dakota.
• The Hornets have finished .500 or above in league play eight straight seasons, including a 10-6 mark three straight years (2020-22). During that run, which started in 2015, the Hornets have combined for a 90-41 Big Sky record, including a 56-9 mark at home.

Notables

• The Hornets currently have four players that rank among the nation's top 60 players in different categories. Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin is 46th in blocks (130), Bridgette Smith is 54th in aces (44), Kalani Hayes is 57th in blocks (125), and Ashtin Olin 60th in assists (1,045).
• Libero Caty Cordano, who recently notched her 1,000th career dig, finished the regular season third in digs per set with 4.70, trailing Portland State's Elli Snook (5.08) and Montana's Sarina Moreno (4.71).
• Middle blocker Kalani Hayes has been one of the top players in the Big Sky, as she is averaging 2.10 kills, 1.26 blocks and a .325 hitting percentage in league play. The blocks are second best in the Big Sky, and the hitting percentage is 10th. She has hit at least .500 in each of the last three matches.
• Outside hitter Bridgette Smith, who already has 839 career kills despite playing only 71 career matches, ranks fifth in the Big Sky with 3.49 kills per set in league play. The six rotation outside hitter has registered double figures in kills in 13 of the Hornets' 16 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 (.338) and blocks per set (1.13). Kamba-Griffin has hit better than .300 in five of the last six matches.
• In league play, Sacramento State is third in the Big Sky holding opponents to a .164 hitting percentage. A big part of that is the team is second in the league in blocks at 2.73 per set. Portland State's hitting percentage of .286 on Friday was the top mark allowed by the Hornets to a conference opponent this year. The Hornets have limited Big Sky foes to a .200 mark or lower in 12 of the 16 matches.