The Week Ahead

• In the middle of a season-long eight-match stretch away from home, Sacramento State (3-6) will compete in this week's Central California Challenge in Bakersfield.
• The two-day, four-team tournament will take place on Friday-Saturday at the Icardo Center.
• The Hornets will play both Fresno State (12 p.m.) and tournament host CSU Bakersfield (7 p.m.) on Friday, followed by a match with Pacific on Saturday at 11 a.m.
• Fresno State will bring a 4-5 record into Friday's match, while CSU Bakersfield enters the tournament with a 3-6 record and Pacific a 5-4 mark.
• Sacramento State is currently 3-6 after three tightly contested matches at last week's Aztec Invite in San Diego. The Hornets narrowly lost to a pair of Power Five schools in Arizona (3-2) and Maryland (3-1) before knocking off San Diego State (3-2).
• In fact, despite the record, Sacramento State has played every team tough as the Hornets have seen seven of their nine matches last at least four sets.
• The Hornets have dealt with injuries to a pair of starters over the last couple weeks. Full-rotation outside hitter Bridgette Smith missed two matches, and has been limited to back row play during the last four contests. In fact, Smith, who is a first team all-Big Sky Conference performer at outside hitter, played libero in all three matches at last week's Aztec Invite.
• On the right side, Karlee Soderberg has missed six straight matches with injury.
• Sacramento State opened the season by playing four of its first five matches at home, but has since has played four straight away from the Nest. The team will open Big Sky Conference play next week with a Thursday road game at Idaho, followed by a home contest on Saturday vs. Idaho State.
• The lone three Hornets to start every match this season are middle blocker Kalani Hayes, setter Ashtin Olin and outside hitter Caitlin Volkmann. Four players - Hayes, Olin, Greta Davis and Caty Cordano - have played all 37 sets this season.
• Sacramento State is 1-3 at home, 2-1 on the road, and 0-2 at neutral sites.
• This week will be the final tournament of the regular season for the Hornets as the team has also participated in the Sacramento State Invitational and Aztec Invite. In addition, the matchup with Pacific will mark the final non-league game of the season. The next 16 matches will be against conference competition leading up to the Big Sky Tournament in Ogden, Utah, on Nov. 23-26.

Multimedia Options

• Sacramento State's match on Friday night at CSU Bakersfield will be streamed on ESPN+. The other two matches will not have a video stream. Live stats will be offered for all three contests.
• Reminder that all multimedia links, 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 or away - this year.
• All home matches, and every match played at a Big Sky Conference venue, will be streamed on ESPN+. Matches on ESPN+ can be found on watchespn.com and the ESPN app.

vs. This Week's Opponents

• Fresno State will bring a 4-5 record into Friday's matchup with the Hornets. The Bulldogs are 1-3 on neutral floors, which included four set losses this past weekend to Tulane and Oklahoma.
• The Hornets are 12-19 all-time against Fresno State, and the two teams have not played since a four-set Sacramento State win in Fresno during the 2015 season. Dating back to 2003, each of the last eight contests between the two schools have been decided in four or five sets with each team winning four times.
• CSU Bakersfield brings a 3-6 record into the tournament, and will be playing for the first time this season at home. This past weekend, they lost in three sets to Big Sky opponent Northern Colorado.
• The Hornets are 19-6 against CSU Bakersfield, which includes five straight wins in the series dating back to 2010. The last meeting saw the Hornets win in five sets in the Nest during the 2019 season. Sacramento State is 4-2 when playing the Roadrunners in Bakersfield, including a win in 2016.
• Pacific takes a 5-4 record into the tournament, and has won three of its last four matches. All nine of the Tigers' matches have been played away from home, including a 3-3 record on neutral floors.
• The Hornets are 7-28 all-time against Pacific, which was a powerhouse in volleyball for decades. Dating back to 2004, Sacramento State is 5-3 against the Tigers, which includes a 3-2 home win (17-15 in the 5th set) a year ago.

Block Party

• Sacramento State currently ranks ninth in the nation in total blocks (96.0) and 38th in blocks per set (2.59). Both those numbers rank first in the Big Sky Conference.
• The Hornets have tallied at least 8.0 team blocks in every match this season, which includes a whopping 18.0 vs. Nevada in four sets in the season opener. The team has posted double figures in team blocks six times, including three straight heading into the Bakersfield tournament.
• Middle blockers Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin (2nd, 1.37 bps) and Kalani Hayes (7th, 1.05 bps) both rank among the Big Sky's top 10 players in blocks, and setter Ashtin Olin (0.92 bps) is 11th.
• The blocking prowess has helped the Hornets limit the opposition to a .190 hitting percentage. Only one team - San Jose State (.365) - has hit better than .260 against Sacramento State this season.

Notables

• Setter Ashtin Olin, the owner of six double-doubles this season, now has 45 over her career. She currently has well rounded averages of 0.76 kills, 9.22 assists, 2.86 digs and 0.92 blocks per set to go along with a .319 hitting percentage.
• Middle blocker Kalani Hayes leads the Hornets, and ranks ninth in the Big Sky, with a .298 hitting percentage. She hit better than .330 during each of the first five matches of the season.
• Over the last five matches, outside hitter Caitlin Volkmann is averaging 3.29 kills and 1.14 digs per set to go along with a .242 hitting percentage. She has recorded 10+ kills in each of those matches.
• Freshman Greta Davis has tallied double digits in kills in six straight matches, and the outside hitter is averaging 2.75 kills per set during that span. That includes a season-high 14 kills in Saturday's win at San Diego State.
• Caty Cordano continues to lead the Hornets with 3.30 digs per set. She played at libero during the team's first six matches, and defensive specialist the last three contests. The senior has tallied double digits in digs on seven occasions.
• Ellie Tisko, inserted into the starting lineup on the right side for the injured Karlee Soderberg, had a career-high 14 kills at San Diego State, a career-best 12 digs vs. Maryland, and posted a season-high tying four blocks in all three matches at last week's Aztec Invite.
• Middle blocker Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin has posted at least four blocks in all but one match this year, and at least six blocks in five of the Hornets' nine contests.
• Bridgette Smith has 14 aces in 106 service attempts, or one ace per 7.6 attempts. She has a 14-to-10 ace to error ratio, and has accounted for nearly 20 percent of the team's aces this season.