The Week Ahead

• The Hornets, who began the season dropping a pair of tight matches at last week's Cal Poly Tournament, will host the three-day, four-team Sacramento State Invitational Thursday-Saturday.
• Sacramento State went 0-2 in San Luis Obispo, falling to Cal Poly (3-1) and 19th-ranked Arkansas (3-0). All seven of those sets were decided by three points or less (four by two points).
• Though the Hornets dropped two, the tight losses came to a nationally ranked Arkansas team that reached NCAA Tournament Elite Eight a year ago. In addition, the Hornets could just have easily beat a Cal Poly team selected to win the Big West Conference in the preseason coaches poll.
• The Hornets will now shift their attention to home matches on three consecutive days as part of the Sacramento State Invitational. The tourney field consists of the Hornets, CSUN, New Mexico State and San Francisco. All four teams at the tournament will play three matches.
• Games will be played at 4:00 p.m. and 7 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday, and game times Saturday will be noon and 2 p.m.
• Sacramento State will play the late match all three days, including Thursday at 7 p.m. vs. CSUN, Friday at 7 p.m. vs. New Mexico State, and Saturday at 2 p.m. vs. San Francisco.
• Other tournament matchups include New Mexico State vs. San Francisco on Thursday at 4 p.m., CSUN vs. San Francisco on Friday at 4 p.m, and Saturday at noon featuring New Mexico State vs. CSUN.
• There will be a tournament champion, and an all-tournament team featuring one MVP and six additional all-tourney selections announced after the event.
• All four teams opened the season last week; their records heading into this week's tournament are New Mexico State (1-1), CSUN (1-2), San Francisco (1-2) and Sacramento State (0-2).
• This will mark the sixth straight non-covid season the Hornets will host the Sacramento State Invitational (the 2020 pandemic-shortened season featured only conference matches).
• The Hornets are 24-27 all-time against CSUN. That includes a pair of wins the last two meetings (both occurred in 2021). Sacramento State is 9-12 when playing the Matadors inside the Nest.
• Sacramento State and New Mexico State have played each other just four times with both teams winning twice. The teams' last matchup was a 3-2 Hornet win (17-15 in the 5th) in Tucson, Ariz., in 2019.
• The Hornets are 24-7 all-time against San Francisco, including two straight wins (2021, 2017) in the series. The team is 13-2 against the Dons at home, and has not lost to USF in the Nest since 2009.
• The Hornets are the defending Big Sky Conference regular season champions after finishing last year with a 22-12 overall record and 13-3 mark in the Big Sky.
•  The team is equipped with 12 returners and four starters from a year ago. That includes starters at outside hitter (Bridgette Smith, Ellie Tisko), rightside hitter (Caitlin Volkmann) and setter (Kate Doorn).

Multimedia Options

• All six matches of the tourney will be video streamed on ESPN+ with Will Schilling handling the play-by-play. Like every match this season, live stats will also be offered. Click here for tourney home page.
• For the fourth straight year, all of Sacramento State's home matches as well as road games at a Big Sky Conference venue, will be streamed on ESPN+.
• Matches on ESPN+ can be found on watchespn.com and the ESPN app.
• Multimedia links can be found next to each match on the volleyball schedule at hornetsports.com.

Wrapping Up The 2023 Season

• Sacramento State posted a 22-12 overall record, 13-3 in conference, 13-5 at home, 6-4 on the road and 3-3 on neutral floors. The Hornets won the Big Sky's regular season championship, the team's first title since the 2017 season.
• The Hornets reached the semifinal round of the Big Sky Tournament in Greeley, Colo., before falling to Weber State in five sets (15-7 in the fifth).
• Sacramento State made a postseason appearance at the NIVC, sweeping UNLV in the first round before falling in four sets to Montana State in the second round. Both matches were played at home.
• Head coach Ruben Volta was named the Big Sky Coach of the Year. He begins his 17th season at the helm, and has been named coach of the year three times (2023, 2017, 2015) in the last nine years.
• Five Hornets were named to the all-conference team, including Big Sky MVP Bridgette Smith who returns as a six-rotation outside hitter. Outside hitter and returner Ellie Tisko was named to the second team. The Hornets, however, did lose the best middle blocker duo in the Big Sky in first team selections Kalani Hayes and Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin. They also lost second team libero Caty Cordano.

Smith Off To A Huge Start

• Reigning Big Sky MVP and honorable mention All-American Bridgette Smith got off to a huge start.
• She was named all-tournament in Cal Poly after averaging 5.14 kills, 2.14 digs and 0.71 aces per set while hitting .306. She also combined for 42.5 points over the two matches.
• She led all players in kills both contests, including 23 at Cal Poly, and 13 vs. Arkansas.
• A three-time first team all-Big Sky selection, Smith became just the Hornets' second All-American during the program's Div. I era (1991-pres.). She joined Jill Haas who earned the award in 1995.

Plenty Of Experience At Outside Hitter

• Sacramento State has plenty of experience at outside and rightside hitter. In fact, the quartet of Bridgette Smith (1,335), Caitlin Volkmann (1,008), Ellie Tisko (531) and Greta Davis (242) have combined for well over 3,000 career kills.
• Volkmann, who is playing on the left after appearing on the right nearly all last season, reached the 1,000 kills milestone in the first set against Arkansas. She now has 1,008 career kills, becoming the 26th Hornet in the last 40 years to reach the milestone.
• Smith (1,335) is now just six kills shy of cracking into Sacramento State's all-time top 10 for career kills. Kelly Caddy (1987-90) currently resides in the 10th spot with 1,241 kills.

Running A 6-2 Offense Again

• Led by setters Kate Doorn and Hailey Plugge, the Hornets ran a very successful 6-2 offense last season, which resulted in the Big Sky's top offense at 13.35 kills per set and a .243 hitting percentage.
• With boat setters returning, the Hornets are running 6-2 again this season.
• Doorn has started 20 consecutive matches dating back to last season, and is averaging 6.43 assists and 2.00 digs thus far. Plugge, who started 15 matches a year ago, is averaging 5.71 assists per set.

Hornet Notables

• Junior middle blocker Ashlynn Archer, thrust into a starting role this year after backing up all-Big Sky middles her first two seasons, was impressive in her starting debut. Last week, she averaged 1.86 kills and 0.57 blocks per set. That included nine kills and four blocks at Cal Poly in her first-ever start.
• With a new NCAA rule allowing coaches to suit up two liberos, Sacramento State primarily used newcomer Reese Ampi in one spot, and returner Abbey Kadillak in the other libero spot. Ampi, who is a junior college transfer, averaged 2.86 digs. That includes 14 in the opener at Cal Poly.
• Middle blocker Karlie Spohn saw her first action in a Hornet uniform after redshirting in 2022, and missing all of 2023 with injury. She combined for eight kills in her first two matches - six at Cal Poly.
• Sacramento State has 15 aces thus far, but also 25 service errors. In fact, the Hornets (25) and last week's opponents (15) combined for 40 service errors in seven sets.
• The Hornets had more kills than their opponents in both matches last week.