OGDEN, Utah -- Sacramento State won the first two sets, but Northern Colorado stormed back to defeat the Hornets, 3-2 (21-25, 16-25, 25-15, 25-18, 15-11), in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals Friday afternoon at Swenson Gym.
Northern Colorado (21-8), the No. 1 seed at the tournament, will advance to play in the tournament championship game tomorrow night against either Montana State or Portland State. The Hornets (15-15), who were the No. 4 seed, were eliminated from the single elimination tourney and saw their season come to an end.
The Hornets advanced to the semifinal round after defeating Montana in the quarters on Wednesday. Northern Colorado defeated Idaho State in the quarters. The Bears went 3-0 against the Hornets this season, which included a pair of four-set victories during the regular season. Sacramento State qualified for the Big Sky Tournament as the No. 4 seed after going 10-6 in conference play.
Things were looking good early when the Hornets won the first two sets with relative ease. That included a 9-0 run midway through the second set, allowing Sacramento State to take command. However, Northern Colorado, the Big Sky regular season champions, was up to the challenge in the final three sets. In fact, the Bears hit above .290 in each of the last three sets, and finished the match hitting .290, the second highest percentage by a Hornet opponent this year.
All five sets were won handily, including the fifth set in which Northern Colorado scored five points on the service line. That included three aces, and two Hornet service errors. The Bears never trailed in the fifth frame, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. The Hornets sliced the deficit to one point on two occasions (5-4 and 6-5), but would get no closer.
The Bears had more kills (64-51), assists (59-49), aces (9-4) and digs (49-41) than the Hornets, while Sacramento State did finish with 13.0 team blocks. Five different Hornets had multiple blocks, including
Kalani Hayes' match-high seven.
Speaking of Hayes, she was brilliant all afternoon, finishing with 12 kills, seven blocks and a .455 hitting percentage. Senior setter
Ashtin Olin, playing in her final match in a Sacramento State uniform, finished with a career-high tying seven kills to go with a .500 hitting percentage, 37 assists, two aces, nine digs and three blocks.
Outside hitter
Bridgette Smith had a match-high tying 16 kills as well as a two aces, five digs and two blocks. Rightside
Caitlin Volkmann had seven kills, six digs and four blocks, and
Ellie Tisko finished with five kills and five digs. Middle blocker
Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin posted three kills and three blocks.
Caty Cordano led the Hornets with 12 digs.
Sacramento State finishes the season with a 15-15 overall record, 10-6 in the Big Sky, 7-5 at home, 7-5 on the road and 1-5 on neutral floors. The Hornets have now finished 10-6 in league play three straight seasons.
Olin finished her Sacramento State career with 4,335 assists, 261 kills, 1,208 digs, 265 blocks and 146 aces. A five-time second team all-Big Sky selection, Olin is sixth in program history in assists, and 10th in aces.
