The Week Ahead

• Sacramento State will play the final legs of a four-match homestand this week in the Nest.
• The Hornets (13-8, 6-1) will host Montana (8-11, 4-3) on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by a Saturday afternoon matchup with Montana State (13-4, 6-1) at 1 p.m.
• The Montana schools, and Northern Colorado are the only Big Sky teams Sacramento State has yet to play this season. The Hornets will travel to both Montana schools in the final week of the regular season.
• The Hornets are coming off a home split last week that included a sweep of Idaho State, and a 3-0 loss to Weber State. The loss to Weber snapped Sacramento State's five-match winning streak.
• Currently, there are three teams - Sacramento State, Montana State, Weber State - that sit atop the Big Sky standings, setting up a juicy matchup on Saturday between the Hornets and Bobcats.
• Montana State (161) and Sacramento State (162) currently sit back-to-back in the latest NCAA RPI rankings out of 344 Div. I schools.
• By the time Thursday's match concludes, the Hornets will be at the midway point of the conference season. Every Big Sky team plays 16 league matches.
• The Hornets' 6-1 conference mark is the program's best after seven matches since 2017. That 2017 squad began the year with a 10-0 league record before eventually winning the Big Sky regular season championship and hosting the conference tournament.
• Sacramento State is 8-4 at home, and has played in front of 400+ fans in all but one of those matches. The Hornets are averaging 492 fans per contest.
• The Hornets are 59-10 at home vs. Big Sky competition since 2015. In program history, Sacramento State is 21-4 at home vs. Montana, and 27-3 at home vs. Montana State.
• Head coach Ruben Volta is currently sitting at 249 career victories, and needs just one to hit the 250 milestone. A two-time Big Sky Coach of the Year, Volta became head coach in 2008. Since 2015, he has led the program to a 156-105 overall record, and a 96-42 mark in league play.
• The Hornets have run a 6-2 offense in every match this season, with Hailey Plugge (5.43 aps, 1.80 dps) and Kate Doorn (4.94 aps, 1.85 dps) handling the setting duties.
• Four Hornets have started every match this season - middle blockers Kalani Hayes and Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin, rightside hitter Caitlin Volkmann, and libero Caty Cordano.
• In conference play, Sacramento State currently leads the Big Sky in seven different categories. That includes first in points (18.72 pps), kills (14.08 kps), assists (12.96 aps), blocks (3.16 bps) and opponent hitting percentage (.139). The Hornets are also third in aces and hitting percentage, and fourth in digs.
• After this week concludes, five of the Hornets' final seven regular season matches will be on the road.

Multimedia Options

• Every match the remainder of the season - home and away - will be streamed on ESPN+. Play-by-play voice Will Schilling will be on the call for both matches this week.
• Matches on ESPN+ can be found on watchespn.com and the ESPN app.
• Live stats will be offered for every match this season.
• Reminder that all multimedia links can be found on the volleyball schedule at hornetsports.com.

Against This Week's Opponents

• Sacramento State is 38-15 all-time vs. Montana, including four straight, and eight of the last nine wins in the series.
• The Hornets are 21-4 at home vs. the Grizzlies, including six straight wins in the Nest.
• During Sacramento State's six-match home winning streak, the Hornets have combined to outscore Montana by a wide margin in sets (18-2). The Grizzlies have not won more than one set in any match in the Nest since 2013.
• Montana has been playing well of late. The Griz have won four of their last six matches, including a three-set sweep of Montana State in Missoula on Sept. 29. That remains MSU's lone conference loss.
• In a series that dates back to 1978, Sacramento State is 48-10 all-time vs. Montana State.
• The Hornets are 27-3 when playing the Bobcats at home. That includes a run of 18 straight home wins vs. MSU that ran from 2001 until 2019.
• The two teams have split the season series each of the last two years, with each team winning on its home floor.
• Montana State has won four straight, including an impressive road sweep of Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado two weeks ago. The Bobcats have been good on the road this season (4-2).

Block Party

• Sacramento State's defense has been stout all year, as the Hornets rank first in the Big Sky and 33rd in the nation limiting the opposition to a .165 hitting percentage.
• A big part of that defensive prowess has been the team's blocking. In fact, Sacramento State is 11th in the nation in total blocks (199.5) and 41st in blocks per set (2.49).
• The Hornets have two players that rank in the top 40 in the nation in total blocks - Kalani Hayes is 23rd with 90 blocks, and Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin is 40th with 87 blocks. The duo has been a huge factor in the Hornets registering at least 9.0 team blocks in seven of the last eight matches.
• The Hornets are averaging a whopping 3.16 blocks per set in Big Sky play, with the next closest conference team averaging 2.69 (Eastern Washington).
• Sacramento State has limited Big Sky opposition to a .139 hitting percentage thus far.
• Statistically speaking, its very easy to figure out if the Hornets will win or lose based on the opponent hitting percentage. Sacramento State is 13-0 when holding an opponent below .200, and 0-8 when the opposition hits above .200. Weber State's .291 hitting percentage last week was the highest mark yielded against any opponent this season.

Hornet Players Sitting Atop Big Sky Rankings

• Not only does Sacramento State sit atop the Big Sky rankings (in conference play) in many different team categories, but Hornet players lead the conference in five different categories.
• That includes outside hitter Bridgette Smith leading the conference with 4.04 kills and 4.82 points per set. She has at least 13 kills in five of the team's six matches against Big Sky foes.
• Middle blocker Kalani Hayes sits atop the Big Sky in both hitting percentage (.405) and blocks per set (1.60). She has hit better than .310 in all seven Big Sky matches thus far.
• Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin leads the league with 0.44 aces per set, a rare feat for a middle blocker. In fact, Kamba-Griffin has 11 aces in seven conference matches.

Notables

• Rightside hitter Caitlin Volkmann has moved up to eighth in the league with 3.32 kps in Big Sky play. She continues to inch closer to the 1,000 kill milestone. Volkmann sits at 894 career kills.
• Libero Caty Cordano ranks fourth in the Big Sky with 4.48 digs per set in conference play. That includes at least 17 digs in five of the team's seven league matches. A four-year starter at libero, Cordano needs exactly 100 digs to become the 11th player in the Hornets' Div. I era to amass 1,500 career digs.
• Middle blocker Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin currently sits fourth in the Big Sky with 1.24 blocks per set in league play. That includes a career-best 12 blocks in the Hornets' four-set win vs. Portland State.
• The Hornets have won seven straight matches when winning the first set.
• Sacramento State has played five straight, and nine of the last 10 matches, in under two hours.