The Week Ahead

• After 14 non-league matches, Sacramento State (7-7) will jump into the Big Sky Conference portion of the schedule this week. In fact, the next 16 Hornet matches will be against Big Sky foes leading up the conference tournament in Greeley, Colo., on Nov. 22-25.
• The Hornets open the conference slate at home on Thursday vs. Northern Arizona (3-8) at 7 p.m., followed by a road matchup at Weber State (7-4) on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT.
• Of the Hornets' 14 matches thus far, eight have come at home and Sacramento State has a 5-3 record at the Nest. The Hornets are 0-2 when playing on an opponent's home floor.
• Sacramento State is coming off a 1-2 record at the Central Cal Challenge, a three-day tournament hosted by Pacific. The Hornets beat CSU Bakersfield, and lost to both Fresno State and Pacific.
• The Hornets began the season with a 5-1 record, but have since gone 2-6. However, of those six recent losses, five came in four or five sets.
• Sacramento State has defeated teams from the following conferences - Mountain West, Big 10, Big West, WCC and Big South.
• The Hornets have won at least nine conference matches each of the last eight years. That includes a 10-6 mark each of the last three seasons. During that eight-year stretch, the Hornets have combined for an 90-41 league record, which includes a 2017 Big Sky regular season championship.
• Also during that eight-year run, the Hornets are 56-9 in the Nest vs. Big Sky competition.
• There are 10 teams in the Big Sky. Each team will play 16 conference matches. Sacramento State will play seven of those teams twice, and just once vs. Northern Colorado and Idaho State.
• This year's Big Sky Tournament, which will consist of eight teams, will be played in Greeley, Colo. (Northern Colorado host), on Nov. 22-25.
• Of the Big Sky's 10 teams, five are currently sitting at .500 or better. Montana State is 7-3, followed by Portland State and Weber State at 7-4, as well as Sacramento State (7-7) and Eastern Washington (6-6). Northern Colorado is 5-6, followed by Montana (4-8), NAU (3-8), Idaho State (2-9) and Idaho (1-11).
• Sacramento State has started five players in every match - middle blockers Kalani Hayes and Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin, 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 (5.71 aps, 1.95 dps) and Kate Doorn (4.33 aps, 1.55 dps) handling the setting duties.
• 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.

Multimedia Options

• Every match the remainder of the season - home and away - will be streamed on ESPN+.
• 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 40-24 all-time against Northern Arizona, and swept last year's two meetings between the teams. Prior to that sweep, NAU had won five of the previous six matches. The Hornets are 26-2 when playing the Lumberjacks at home, good for a whopping .929 winning percentage.
• NAU enters Thursday's match with a 3-8 record. The Lumberjacks have dropped seven of their last eight, but that one win during that stretch came over Boise State.
• The Hornets are 40-16 all-time against Weber State, but the Wildcats have won five of the last six meetings. The teams played just once last season, and that was a 3-0 Wildcat win in Ogden. Sacramento State has dropped four straight in Ogden, with the last win coming in five sets in 2019. Overall, the Hornets are 18-10 when playing on Weber State's home floor.
• The Wildcats enter the week with a 7-4 record, and recently had a five-match winning streak snapped with a 3-1 loss at Utah on Friday. Weber State is 4-2 at home, and, like Sacramento State, fell on the home floor to Saint Mary's earlier this season.

Playing The Defense

• Sacramento State has played good defense throughout the season, and has held opponents to a .178 hitting percentage (tops in the Big Sky). That hitting percentage is 85th in the nation among 332 Div. I teams.
• The Hornets are second in the Big Sky with 2.19 blocks per set, and have yet to allow an opponent to hit anything better than .270 all season.
• Statistically speaking, its become very easy to figure out if the Hornets will win or lose based on the opponent hitting percentage. Sacramento State is 7-0 when holding an opponent below .200, and 0-7 when the opposition hits above .200.

Smith Notches 1,000th Kill

• In her fourth season with the team, and already a two-time first team all-Big Sky Conference performer, outside hitter Bridgette Smith notched her 1,000th career kill on Friday vs. Fresno State.
• Making the 1,000 kills even more impressive is she accomplished the feat in just her 83rd match. For her career, she averaging 3.12 kills per set to go along with 2.39 digs per set.
• She became 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 a four-year starter and a six-rotation outside hitter. She has career totals of 1,007 kills, 771 digs, 124 blocks and 112 aces.

Notables

• Libero Caty Cordano has registered double figures in digs in all but one match this season, and now has 1,288 for her career. Her career average of 3.67 digs per set ranks as the ninth best mark in program history. This is the fourth straight season Cordano is the team's starting libero.
• Middle blocker Kalani Hayes had her career-high streak of five straight matches with double-figure kills snapped when she was limited to seven in just 16 swings vs. Fresno State. Hayes, a reigning first team all-conference performer, is averaging 2.05 kills and 0.91 blocks per set while hitting .295.
• Senior rightside hitter Caitlin Volkmann has now started 54 straight matches dating back to 2021, and could become the Hornets' second player to reach 1,000 kills this season. Volkmann, who is averaging 2.27 kills per set, currently has 811 kills and has averaged 2.47 kills during her career.
• Greta Davis has at least nine digs in four of her last five matches, and is now second on the team with 2.19 digs per set.
• Outside hitter Ellie Tisko's 132 kills are already seven more than she had all of last season. In Friday's loss to Fresno State, Tisko had 10 kills and a .529 hitting percentage. She has tallied double figures in kills seven times, after entering the season having done so twice in her first two years in the program.
• Middle blocker Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin is averaging the same amount of kills (1.04 kps) and blocks (1.04 bps) while hitting .303. She had a stretch of five straight matches hitting better than .330 come to an end on Friday vs. Fresno State.
• The Hornets have not played their Big Sky opener at home since 2017. That match resulted in a 3-1 win over Weber State on Sept. 21, 2017.