The Week Ahead

• Sacramento State (6-5) will play its final three non-conference matches of the regular season when the Hornets compete at the Central Cal Challenge, hosted by Pacific in Stockton.
• Sacramento State will play three straight days, and all three matches will begin at 3 p.m. That includes Thursday vs. CSU Bakersfield (4-5), Friday vs. Fresno State (4-4), and Saturday at Pacific (5-4). All three matches will take place at the Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton.
• On paper, all four teams at the tournament are evenly matched which could create a number of four and five setters. Sacramento State has gotten used to playing long matches, and each of the team's last seven matchups have lasted either four or five sets.
• The Hornets are coming off a 3-1 home loss to UC Davis on Tuesday night. That wrapped up a 5-3 home record during Sacramento State's non-league portion of the season. The Hornets opened the season by hosting tournaments on back-to-back weekends.
• Next week, Sacramento State will begin Big Sky Conference play with a home match on Thursday vs. Northern Arizona, followed by a Saturday road matchup at Weber State.
• After beginning the season with a 5-1 record, the Hornets have dropped four of their last five matches. However, of those most recent four defeats, two were lost in five sets and two in four sets.
• Sacramento State has played just three matches away from home, and that came at last week's Gator Invitational in Florida. The Hornets played to five sets in all three matches, including losses to third-ranked Florida and Clemson, and a victory over Winthrop.
• The Hornets are 0-1 on the road, and 1-1 on neutral floors.
• Sacramento State has starting lineup consistency, as the following players have started all 11 matches - middle blockers Kalani Hayes and Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin, outside hitter Ellie Tisko, rightside hitter Caitlin Volkmann, setter Hailey Plugge, and libero Caty Cordano.
• The Hornets have run a 6-2 offense in every match this season, with Hailey Plugge (5.82 aps, 1.93 dps) and Kate Doorn (4.44 aps, 1.58 dps) handling the setting duties. The two have run a Hornet offense which is hitting .236, the second best mark in the Big Sky.
• Sacramento State has enjoyed sizable home crowds this season. Of the team's eight home matches thus far, the Hornets have played in front of 400+ fans in seven of those contests. That includes over 500 fans in five of them.
• Outside hitter Bridgette Smith is just 17 kills shy of reaching the 1,000 kill milestone. The two-time first team all-Big Sky selection would become the 25th player in the program's Div. I era (1991-pres.) to accomplish the feat.

Multimedia Options

• Only one of the Hornets' matches at the Central Cal Challenge - Saturday's match at Pacific - will be video streamed. That match will be shown on ESPN+.
• All of Sacramento State's home matches this year, as well as road games at a Big Sky Conference venue, will be streamed on ESPN+ for the third straight season.
• 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

• The Hornets are 20-6 all-time vs. CSU Bakersfield, which includes six straight wins in the series. In fact, the Hornets haven't lost to the Roadrunners since a five-set home loss in 2009. The Hornets defeated Bakersfield last season (3-2) on the road. Sacramento State owns a 6-2 record when the teams play on a neutral floor.
• Sacramento State is 9-18 all-time vs. Fresno State. The teams have split their last eight matches against each other with five of those outcomes going to five sets. That includes last season's five-set Hornet loss to the Bulldogs in Bakersfield. The two teams have played nine straight matches that have lasted over three sets, with the last sweep coming in 2002 in Fresno (Bulldog victory). The teams have played just four times on a neutral floor (2-2).
• The Hornets are 7-29 all-time against Pacific, but Sacramento State is 5-4 in the last nine matchups. The teams played each other last season in Bakersfield with the Tigers winning in three sets. Sacramento State has defeated Pacific just once when playing away from Sacramento (2005 road win).

Playing Long Matches

• If you enjoy long volleyball matches, Sacramento State should be your team to watch.
• Each of the Hornets' last four matches have lasted at least two hours and 10 minutes, and the team has played three-set matches just twice in its first 11 contests.
• That includes four matches that lasted five sets, and four that went four sets.
• After three of the team's first four matches of the season were sweeps, each of the last seven matchups have gone either four or five sets.
• That includes a 1-2 record at the Gator Invitational where all three contests went to five sets. One of those was a tight loss to the third ranked team in the nation (Florida).

Smith Approaching Milestone

• In her fourth season with the team, and already a two-time first team all-Big Sky Conference performer, outside hitter Bridgette Smith currently has 983 career kills.
• She needs just 17 kills to become the 25th player in the Hornets' Div. I era (1991-pres.) to accomplish the feat, and the first since outside hitter Sarah Davis in 2019.
• Smith is averaging 3.14 kills per set during her career, and is a four-year starter. Impressively, she is nearing the 1,000 plateau despite playing in just 81 matches thus far. Her freshman season was limited to 17 matches because of the pandemic.

Notables

• Libero Caty Cordano has registered double figures in digs in every match thus far, and now has 1,246 for her career. Her career average of 3.65 digs per set currently ranks as the ninth best mark in program history. This is the fourth straight season Cordano is the team's starting libero.
• With 11 more kills on Tuesday vs. UC Davis, middle blocker Kalani Hayes has now registered 10+ kills in a career-high four straight matches. She is currently averaging 2.00 kills and 0.84 blocks per set. Her .298 hitting percentage is the eighth best mark in the Big Sky.
• Middle blocker Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin is hitting .429 over her last four matches, lifting her season hitting percentage to a team-high .351. She is also averaging 1.11 kills and 1.00 blocks per set. If she had enough kills to qualify, that .351 percentage would rank third in the Big Sky.
• Rightside hitter Caitlin Volkmann, the Hornet Invitational MVP, ranks third on the Hornets with 2.40 kills per set. She has posted at least eight kills in all but two matches this year. Her season high of 14 came against both Nevada and Winthrop.
• Greta Davis has combined for 26 digs over her last two matches, and one of three Hornets averaging over two digs per set (2.11 dps).
• Outside hitter Ellie Tisko now has 112 kills this year, and is second on the team with 2.60 kills per set. She is just 13 kills shy of matching her entire kill output (125) from a year ago. She has registered double figures in kills six times this season, including a career-high 20 vs. Nevada.