SACRAMENTO -- Despite 21 kills from Bridgette Smith and 17 from Caitlin Volkmann, Sacramento State fell to Idaho State, 3-1 (26-24, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18), on Thursday evening in the Nest.

In the process, the Hornets suffered a rare home defeat as they dropped to 17-11 overall, 10-5 in the Big Sky Conference, and 8-2 at home. The only previous loss Sacramento State had at home came in five sets to first-place Northern Colorado.

The loss dropped the Hornets into a three-way tie for second place with Idaho State (19-8, 10-5) and Weber State (13-13, 10-5) with just one match left in the regular season. Northern Colorado defeated Idaho tonight, and clinched the Big Sky regular season title outright. The Bears will be the No. 1 seed at next week's Big Sky Tournament (Nov. 27-29) in the Nest.

Sacramento State will play Weber State in Saturday's regular season finale at 7 p.m. in the Nest. Depending on that outcome, and Idaho State's outcome at Portland State, the Hornets could be the Nos. 2, 3 or 4 seed at next week's postseason event.

Idaho State improved to 5-2 on the road in league, and snapped a 10-match losing streak against the Hornets in the Nest. Tonight was the Bengals' first win in Sacramento since 2016.

Despite finishing with 16 more kills than Idaho State (57-41), Sacramento State had 30 errors compared to just 12 miscues for the Bengals. Both teams had 10 aces, and Idaho State finished with 12.0 team blocks.

Smith (21) and Volkmann (17) accounted for 38 of the Hornets' 57 kills as the two players continue to take up the top two spots in the Big Sky in kills per set. Smith is averaging 3.98 kps and Volkmann 3.77 kps. Smith added 10 digs for her third straight double-double, and 12th this season.

After missing a match to injury, middle blocker Ashlynn Archer was impressive, finishing with eight kills, three blocks and a .421 hitting percentage. Freshman middle Skyler Gartin, making her fifth straight start, had five kills, five blocks and a .500 hitting percentage. Ellie Tisko had five kills and seven digs, but saw her streak of seven straight matches hitting above .300 come to an end.

Setter Kate Doorn had 27 assists and eight digs, and Hailey Plugge 18 assists and six digs. Reese Ampi posted seven digs, and Abbey Kadillak had five.

Prior to Saturday night's match, Hornet seniors Plugge, Tisko, Volkmann and Smith will be honored for their contributions to the program.

Fans who attend Sacramento State's home football game on Saturday vs. UC Davis (2 p.m. start) can use that ticket stub to gain free admittance to Saturday night's Hornets vs. Weber State volleyball game.