SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento State limited Montana State to its second lowest hitting percentage of the season (.102), and the Hornets beat the Bobcats in four sets (25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 25-13), on Saturday afternoon at the Nest.

Sacramento State used sizable runs in the first (7-0), second (6-0) and fourth (12-4) sets to secure one of its biggest wins of the season. The top ranked defense in the Big Sky, Sacramento State held Montana State to just 39 kills with 25 errors in 137 swings. MSU, which entered the match hitting .223 in Big Sky play, hit better than .150 in just one set, which included a negative percentage (-.023) in the second.

Sacramento State maintained its seat atop the Big Sky Conference standings while improving to 15-8 overall and 8-1 in league. With seven conference matches to play, the Hornets sit one game ahead of Weber State (7-2) and two games ahead of Montana State (6-3). Today's victory was huge as the Bobcats sat just one game back, and were looking to move into a tie for first place with the Hornets.

Sacramento State's 8-1 conference record is the team's best since the 2017 team was 9-0. In addition, the 8-1 mark is the second best in the last 15 years (the 2007 squad was also 8-1). The Hornets' 15 overall victories already matches their output from all of last season.

The Hornets are 9-4 at home, including 5-1 in league play. Of Sacramento State's final seven regular season matches, five will be on the road.

The Hornets continued their dominance of Montana State, improving to 49-10 all-time against the Bobcats (28-3 at home). Sacramento State won 18 straight matches at home vs. MSU between 2001 and 2019.

The Bobcats dropped to 14-5 overall and 6-3 in league play. Montana State began the conference season 6-1, but has since lost two straight, including a five-set heartbreaker at Portland State on Thursday.

Five different Sacramento State players had at least seven blocks as setters Hailey Plugge and Kate Doorn did a nice job of running the offense. The Hornets had 53 kills (14 more than MSU), and hit .353 in the final set. Sacramento State's defense had 63 digs (11 more than MSU), and 11.0 team blocks (4.0 more than MSU).

Ellie Tisko (13), Bridgette Smith (12), Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin (10), Kalani Hayes (7) and Caitlin Volkmann (7) combined for 49 of the team's 53 kills. Kamba-Griffin could not be stopped, hitting a career-high .769 with a career-high tying 10 kills and zero errors in 13 swings. She also had five blocks. Fellow middle blocker Hayes had a match-high six blocks (three solos) to go with her seven kills. Smith had 11 digs, registering her sixth double-double of the season.

Libero Caty Cordano led all players with 23 digs and three aces, and Plugge finished with 26 assists, two aces and nine digs. Doorn had 16 assists and eight digs, and Karlee Soderberg added three kills and a pair of blocks.

The Hornets hit the road next week for matchups at Northern Colorado on Thursday (5 p.m. PT), and Northern Arizona on Saturday (6:30 p.m. PT).