The Week Ahead

• Fresh off a 2-1 week in Massachusetts, Sacramento State (4-5) returns home to host the Central Cal Challenge in the Nest Thursday-Saturday. 
• The Hornets welcome CSU Bakersfield, Pacific and Fresno State to the Nest. All four teams will play once each day, and play three matches over three days.
• Games will be played at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday, and game times Saturday will be 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
• This is the fourth straight year these four teams are playing the Central Cal Challenge, and the hosting school rotates every season. Pacific has won the event each of the first three seasons, including 2022 in Bakersfield, 2023 in Stockton, and 2024 in Fresno. In fact, Pacific has yet to lose a match during tournament play, going 9-0 over the last three years.
• Other records during tournament play include Fresno State (5-4), Sacramento State (3-6) and CSU Bakersfield (1-8). All three of the Hornets' wins have come against Bakersfield. The Roadrunners lost their first eight matches of the tourney until beating Fresno State (3-2) last season in Fresno.
• Sacramento State will play the late match all three days, including Thursday at 7 p.m. vs. CSU Bakersfield, Friday at 7 p.m. vs. Pacific, and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. vs. Fresno State.
• Other tournament matchups include Fresno State vs. Pacific on Thursday at 4 p.m., CSU Bakersfield vs. Fresno State on Friday at 4 p.m., and Pacific vs. CSU Bakersfield on Saturday at 11 a.m.
• Each of the three Sacramento State matches will be streamed on ESPN+, and all six will have live stats. Scheduling conflicts have prevented streaming each of the three neutral court matches.
• There will be a tournament champion, and an all-tournament team featuring one MVP and six additional all-tourney selections announced after the event.
• Friday night is Childhood Cancer Awareness, and the Hornets will have 8-year old honorary captain Penelope Calabrese on hand. Penelope became a member of the Hornets in 2023 through Team Impact. As a 4-year old, she was diagnosed with a form of pediatric kidney cancer, and after a ninth month fight, Penelope has been cancer free for nearly three years.
• After dropping their first three matches of the season, the Hornets have won four of the last six. That includes a 2-1 record in Utah, and 2-1 in Massachusetts. The Hornets opened the season by going 0-3 at their Sacramento State Invitational against very good competition.
• The Central Cal Challenge will mark the Hornets' final non-conference matches of the season as the team opens Big Sky Conference play next week at Montana on Sept. 25.

Multimedia Options

• All three Sacramento State matches during this week's tournament will stream on ESPN+
• Due to scheduling conflicts, none of the neutral site matches will be streamed.
• Like every match this season, live stats will be offered for all six matches this week
• Games 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.

Among Big Sky and National Leaders

• Sacramento State currently has three players that rank among the Big Sky's top two players in different statistical categories. And two that rank high among the nation's leaders.
• Middle blocker Ashlynn Archer leads the Big Sky, and ranks 18th in the nation, with a .444 hitting percentage. She also sits ninth in the Big Sky in blocks (1.03) and points (3.48) per set.
• Archer has posted double-figure kills in four straight and six of the last seven matches. In addition, she has hit at least .500 in four straight matches, and is hitting .551 (48-5-78) over that span.
• Libero Reese Ampi is second in the Big Sky, and 26th in the nation with 4.73 digs per set. The junior has registered double-figure digs in all nine matches, including 14-plus in all but two contests.
• She had a career-high 31 digs at Utah Tech, 22 vs. Pepperdine, and 20 at Boston College.
• Outside hitter Victoria Marthaler ranks second in the Big Sky in both kills (3.73) and points (4.17) per set. She has led the Hornets in kills in all but two matches, and has posted double digits seven of nine matches. Marthaler had registered double digits in six straight until finishing with nine vs. UAlbany.
• The transfer from Weber State had 24 kills at Utah Tech, 19 at Southern Utah, and 15 vs. Pepperdine.

Final Season In The Big Sky

• This year marks the Hornets' 30th in the Big Sky Conference (1996-pres.), but will also serve as the team's last. In June, Sacramento State announced that it will join the Big West Conference as a full member beginning in the 2026-27 academic year. 
• In 2026, the Hornets will join a Big West lineup that includes California Baptist, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, CSUN, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and Utah Valley.
• During the Hornets' stay in the Big Sky, the program has won 14 regular season and/or tournament championships.
• The Hornets are coming off a 2024 season in which the team won the Big Sky Conference Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Sacramento State, which finished 21-12 overall and 11-5 in league, has won at least 10 conference matches five straight, and nine of the last 10 years.

Switching To A 6-2?

• Sacramento State has primarily run a traditional 5-1 offense throughout the season. However, that changed when the Hornets employed a 6-2 offense in the sweep of UAlbany.
• In that match, Kate Doorn (17) and Kaylee Piepho (15) combined for 32 assists while the offense hit a season-best .356. In fact, the Hornets had 45 kills with just nine errors in 101 swings.
• The Hornets have flirted with the 6-2, briefly running it in matches at Southern Utah and Dartmouth.
• Last season, Sacramento State employed a 6-2 all season with setters Doorn and the recently graduated Hailey Plugge running the offense. It was successful as the team finished first in the Big Sky in assists (12.13 aps), second in kills (13.23 kps) and points (17.13 pps), and third in hitting% (.232).

Notables

• Sacramento State used both Greta Davis (seven kills, .538 hit%) and Eleanor Weeks (four kills, .500 hit%) on the right side during the match vs. UAlbany, and they combined for 11 kills and a .523 hit%.
• The Hornets have yet to play with middle blocker Karlie Spohn (26 starts a year ago) because of injury and middle Skyler Gartin (10 starts a year ago) has played sparingly because of injury. Freshman Kelsey Heffner has done a nice job filling in for both, and has started each of the last six matches. She is hitting .429 with averages of 1.17 kills and 0.75 blocks per set. She has hit better than .330 in all six starts, and has combined for 28 kills and just four errors in 56 swings.
• Setter Kate Doorn has three double-doubles this season (assists and digs) and currently ranks sixth in the Big Sky with 7.61 assists per set. She is not far off from 2,000 career assists (currently has 1,789).
• Defensive specialist Mia Guevara has started each of the last six matches, and has responded with 1.76 digs per set over that span. That is the third best mark among Hornets over that span.
• Freshman Keonahi'ilani Solaita has combined for 15 kills over the last three matches on the outside, and received her first two collegiate starts against both Boston College and UAlbany. In the win over UAlbany, she had six kills, four digs, two blocks and an ace. The six kills tied her season best.