CHENEY, Wash. -- Three Hornets finished with double-figure kills - Caitlin Volkmann (17), Bridgette Smith (12) and Ellie Tisko (10) - to lead Sacramento State to a 3-1 road win at Eastern Washington (25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 25-16) on Saturday morning at Reese Court.

With the victory, Sacramento State improved to 9-6 overall and 2-0 in the Big Sky Conference. The Hornets, who opened league play Thursday with a home win vs. Montana State, have now won their first two conference matches for the third straight season.

In addition, the Hornets are a season-high tying three games above the .500 mark, as the team was also 7-4 earlier in the year.

Eastern Washington dropped to 4-8 overall and 0-2 with the loss. Sacramento State continued its dominance of the Eagles, improving to 44-18 in the all-time series. That includes seven straight wins in the series, and six consecutive victories at Reese Court.

Midway through the first set, Smith notched her 1,500th career kill. She becomes the fifth player in program history, and 11th in Big Sky history, to achieve the milestone. Smith entered the match with 1,498 kills.

After three close sets, Sacramento State jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the fourth, which included three aces from Smith during the spurt. Smith finished with a career-high seven aces to go along with 12 kills, six digs and a pair of blocks.

At 24-23 of the first set, the Hornets received a kill from Karlie Spohn (after a perfect pass from Volkmann), and the second set ended on a Volkmann kill at 24-23 after a perfect pass from Greta Davis.

Volkmann's 17 kills accompanied a .316 hitting percentage, nine digs and a pair of blocks. Volkmann had an incredible week, finishing two matches with an average of 4.50 kills per set to go with a .325 hitting percentage. Tisko had a .286 hitting percentage to go with her 10 kills. Middle blocker Ashlynn Archer had five kills and a career-high eight blocks. She finished the week with an average of 1.75 blocks per set.

Spohn had six kills, three blocks and a match-high .500 hitting percentage, Davis four kills, Kate Doorn 24 assists, nine digs and three blocks, and Hailey Plugge 21 assists and five digs. Liberos Reese Ampi (6) and Abbey Kadillak (5) combined for 11 digs.

Sacramento State will begin a three-match homestand next week with a Friday matchup against Portland State at 7 p.m. The Hornets will also host Northern Arizona (Oct. 10) and Northern Colorado (Oct. 12) as part of the homestand.