OGDEN, Utah -- Sacramento State overcame an early deficit, and limited Montana to an .067 hitting percentage, on the way to a 3-1 victory (19-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-23) over the Grizzlies in the Big Sky Tournament quarterfinals at Swenson Gym.

The match was the first for the Hornets (15-14) at the three-day Big Sky Tournament which begins today with four quarterfinal matches. Montana (17-12) was eliminated from the tournament while Sacramento State will play Northern Colorado in Friday's semifinal round at 2 p.m. PST. The Hornets are the No. 4 seed after going 10-6 in league play while Northern Colorado is the No. 1 seed after winning the Big Sky's regular season championship.

The Hornets went 3-0 against Montana this season, which included two regular season meetings. All three wins came in four sets. Sacramento State lost both its matches to Northern Colorado during the regular season, but both were tightly contested four-set results. The Bears swept Idaho State in the first quarterfinal matchup of the day.

Sacramento State is making its 22nd Big Sky Tournament appearance since joining the league in 1996, and now has a 25-12 record at the postseason event. Of those 22 appearances, Sacramento State has qualified for at least the semifinal round on 17 occasions.

Things weren't looking good when the Hornets dropped the first set, and then trailed, 17-13, in the second. However, Sacramento State ripped off a 12-0 run to finish the frame, and Bridgette Smith was brilliant as the Hornets scored 11 straight points with Smith on the service line. Perhaps the turning point of the set was head coach Ruben Volta winning a challenge that reversed what would have been a 17-12 deficit to 16-13. From that point on, it was all Hornets.

Sacramento State began the third set on a 3-0 run as the Hornets scored 15 unanswered points spanning the second and third frames. The Hornets closed the third on a 3-0 run to win, 25-21, and then closed the fourth on a 4-1 run to win, 25-23. A Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin block ended the fourth set and match.

The Hornets' defense came up big all afternoon, limiting Montana to an .067 hitting percentage, the second lowest mark of the season by a Sacramento State opponent. The Grizzlies hit below .075 in each of the final three frames. A big part of that was a season-high tying 18.0 team blocks (17.0 after the first set), as five different Hornets had at least three blocks.

Sacramento State's middle blocker combination of Kalani Hayes and Kamba-Griffin came up big again. One day after both were named all-Big Sky, Hayes had 11 kills, eight blocks and a .364 hitting percentage, while Kamba-Griffin posted seven kills, a .312 hitting percentage and six blocks. The two combined for seven solo stuffs (Hayes 4, Kamba-Griffin 3).

Rightside hitter Caitlin Volkmann led all players with 13 kills to go along with eight digs. Bridgette Smith had 10 kills, 15 digs, two aces and three blocks, and Ellie Tisko seven kills and four blocks. Setter Ashtin Olin had a big match with 41 assists, four blocks and a team-high 17 digs. Caty Cordano had nine digs and Greta Davis five digs.