The Week Ahead

• Fresh off one of its most impressive weeks of the season, Sacramento State (16-9, 9-3) will conclude its four-match road trip Thursday at Montana (8-16, 3-10), and Saturday at Montana State (8-16, 6-7). Thursday's match will begin at 3 p.m. PT, and Saturday will start at 6 p.m. PT.
• The Hornets began the road trip last week with a bang, sweeping both Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona - one of the tougher two-match trips in the Big Sky. Just winning both matches on the road is tough enough, let alone posting 3-0 victories in both.
• Thursday's win came against a first-place Northern Colorado team that had won eight straight.
• The Hornets have won a season-high tying four straight to catapult themselves into a three-way tie for second place in the Big Sky standings with just four regular season matches to play.
• Northern Colorado currently sits in first place with a 10-2 record, and three teams trail by just a game with 9-3 records - Sacramento State, Idaho State and Weber State.
• Speaking of tough road trips, traveling to the Montana schools has always been difficult. In fact, the Hornets have not gone 2-0 on this trip since 2018. The last two seasons has seen the Hornets win at Montana, but fall at Montana State. In 2021, Sacramento State dropped both.
• The Hornets enter the week with a 5-6 road record, and 4-2 in the Big Sky. The lone two road losses against Big Sky foes came in five sets at Weber State, and four sets at Idaho State.
• Sacramento State needs just one more conference win to assure itself of at least 10 Big Sky victories for the fifth straight season, and nine of the last 10 years.
• The top eight teams in the conference will qualify for the Big Sky Tournament, which the Hornets will host in the Nest during Thanksgiving Week (Nov. 27-29). Sacramento State is hosting the event by virtue of winning last year's Big Sky regular season title.
• Sacramento State has already clinched a spot in the tournament, as have the top four teams in the conference. Montana State is very close to clinching a spot (one or two more victories depending on other outcomes), while Montana is currently fighting NAU for the last spot.
• The Hornets defeated Montana State (3-1) at home in the Big Sky opener on Sept. 26. This week's matchup at Montana is the only time the two teams will meet.
• Sacramento State had used the same starting lineup each of the first 25 matches of the season, featuring Kate Doorn at setter, Bridgette Smith and Caitlin Volkmann at outside hitter, Ashlynn Archer and Karlie Spohn at middle blocker, Ellie Tisko on the right side, and both Reese Ampi and Abbey Kadillak at libero. However, that changed last week when true freshman Skyler Gartin replaced Spohn in both matches. Spohn was injured and is questionable to play this week.

Multimedia Options

• Every match the remainder of the season will air on ESPN+, including the Big Sky Tournament.
• For the fourth straight year, all of Sacramento State's home matches, as well as road games at a Big Sky Conference venue, will stream on ESPN+.
• Multimedia links, including video, live stats and tickets, can be found next to each match on the volleyball schedule at hornetsports.com.

vs. This Week's Opponents

• Montana enters the week with an 8-16 overall record, and 3-10 in the Big Sky. Last week, the Griz ended a six-match losing streak with road sweeps of both Eastern Washington and Idaho. Montana is 3-6 at home, and 1-5 vs. Big Sky opposition at Dahlberg Arena.
• The Hornets are 40-15 all-time vs. Montana, including a 16-10 road record. Sacramento State has won six straight, and 10 of the last 11 in the series. The only win for Montana between 2018 and the present was a 3-0 victory in Missoula on Oct. 16, 2021.
• During that run of 10 wins in the last 11 matches, the Hornets have posted a sweep just twice. Seven of those contests ended in four sets, and once in five sets.
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• Montana State enters the week with an 8-16 overall record and 6-7 in league play. The Bobcats have dropped five of their last seven with the wins during that span coming at Montana, and at Idaho.
• MSU is 3-4 at home, and 2-3 vs. league opposition.
• The Hornets beat the Bobcats at home on Sept. 26 - 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 25-17
• Sacramento State is 50-12 all-time vs. the Bobcats, but MSU has won six of the last 10 meetings. It was Montana State that beat the Hornets in the Nest a year ago in the second round of the NIVC.
• The Hornets are 17-8 on the road vs. MSU, but have dropped the last four meetings. The last win in Bozeman came in 2018, and no Hornet on the current roster has ever beaten the Bobcats on the road.

Volta Receives Contract Extension

• Head coach Ruben Volta, in his 17th season with the program, received a three-year contract extension on Oct. 30. Volta has been named Big Sky Coach of the Year three times during his tenure, and has guided the team to 10+ conference wins eight of the last nine years.
• Since 2015, the team is 181-118 overall, and 112-47 in Big Sky play. That includes a pair of conference championships in 2017 and 2023.

Outside Hitter Tandem Playing Big

• Starting outside hitters Bridgette Smith and Caitlin Volkmann have combined to make up the most prolific duo in the Big Sky Conference.
• They currently rank first and second in the league in kills both overall, and in conference play. Overall, Smith leads with 3.93 kps, followed by Volkmann (3.73 kps). In conference play, it flips as Volkmann leads all players with 4.09 kps, followed by Smith (4.00 kps).
• Overall, they are also first (Smith 4.71 pps) and second (Volkmann 4.28 pps) in points.
• Overall, Smith ranks first in three categories, including kills, points and aces (0.63 aps). In fact, her 59 aces rank fifth in the nation, and the aces per set rank sixth in the country.
• Either Smith (13 times) or Volkmann (11 times) has led the team in kills in all but one match this season. Ellie Tisko paced the team in kills in the win over CSU Bakersfield.
• Both players are fifth-year seniors. Smith ranks fourth in program history with 1,668 career kills. Smith also has 1,204 digs, and is one of 13 players in school history to be in the 1,000/1,000 club.
• Volkmann has 1,338 career kills, the 11th best mark in program history.

Hornet Notables

• The Hornets have been a well-rounded team. In conference play, the team ranks among the top three Big Sky schools in numerous categories. That includes first in assists (12.54 aps) and aces (2.22 aps), second in kills (13.70 kps) and opponent hitting% (.185), and third in hitting% (.252).
• Led by one of the best servers in the country, Sacramento State ranks ninth in the nation with 2.20 aces per set, and 15th with 190 total aces. Smith is the nation's fifth best server, and needs three aces (currently has 59) to tie the Hornet Div. I-era single season record of 62, set by Nicole Harty in 1992.
• Senior rightside hitter Ellie Tisko has hit better than .310 in five straight matches. Over that span, she is hitting .380 (43-13-79) with averages of 2.53 kills, 1.65 digs and 0.76 blocks per set. That includes a .462 percentage vs. Idaho, and .450 against Eastern Washington.
• Starting middle blocker Karlie Spohn has missed the last two games with injury, and freshman Skyler Gartin has filled in nicely. In the two matches, Gartin is hitting .529 (10-1-17) with 1.67 kps and 0.50 bps.