SACRAMENTO — Sacramento State released its 2026 indoor schedule today, which includes 29 regular season matches - 12 at home, 12 on the road, and five on a neutral floor.

The season marks the first for the Hornets in the Big West Conference. The program had spent the previous 30 years in the Big Sky prior to the switch.

Sacramento State has won at least 20 matches in each of the last three seasons, which includes a 20-10 overall record and 12-4 league mark a season ago.

Of the team's 29 matches, 18 will come against Big West opposition. The season begins Aug. 28 when the Hornets travel to Malibu for a three-day tournament hosted by Pepperdine. 

That is the first of four non-conference tournaments Sacramento State will play during the first four weeks of the season. The Hornets will host the annual Sacramento State Invitational Sept. 3-5 in the Nest when the team plays Nevada (Sept. 3), Texas Tech (Sept. 4) and Saint Mary's (Sept. 5).

Tournaments hosted by Boise State (Sept. 10-12) and San Jose State (Sept. 18-19) round out the Hornets' non-conference portion of the schedule. 

The Hornets' first-ever Big West match will take place at home on Thursday, Sept. 24, vs. California Baptist, and is part of a season-long four match homestand to begin the conference season. 

In Big West play, Sacramento State will play at home on Thursdays and Saturdays, and on the road Fridays and Saturdays. There are 12 teams in the Big West, and the Hornets will play nine of those squads twice (California Baptist, UC Riverside, Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and Utah Valley). Sacramento State will play just once against both CSU Bakersfield and CSUN. 

Part of that four-match homestand includes matchups with UC Riverside (Sept. 26), Cal Poly (Oct. 1) and UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 3). Sacramento State will then play its first Big West road contests at UC San Diego (Oct. 9) and UC Irvine (Oct. 10), before heading back home for three matches. In fact, Sacramento State will play seven of nine matches at home during the first half of the Big West season, but will play seven of nine on the road on the back half.

The three home matches to round out the first half of the Big West schedule include Cal State Fullerton (Oct. 15), Long Beach State (Oct. 17) and Utah Valley (Oct. 22). The Hornets will take on Utah Valley twice in three days as the Hornets play the Wolverines in Orem, Utah, on Oct. 24. 

After the Utah Valley contest begins three straight matches on the road, Sacramento State's final two home competitions will come Nov. 5 vs. UC Irvine and Nov. 7 vs. UC San Diego. The Hornets will play their final four Big West matches on the road, including their first matchups with CSU Bakersfield (Nov. 21) and CSUN (Nov. 21) to conclude the regular season.

Sacramento State returns 10 players from a year ago, including starters at outside hitter (Victoria Marthaler and Keonahi'ilani Solaita), middle blocker (Skyler Gartin) and libero (Reese Ampi). In addition, the Hornets welcome five new players to the program. Marthaler was last season's Big Sky MVP, while Ampi was Big Sky Libero of the Year, and Solaita the Big Sky's Freshman of the Year. 

The Hornets did lose a pair of first team all-Big Sky selections in setter Kate Doorn and middle blocker Ashlynn Archer. Doorn was the Big Sky Setter of the Year. The team also lost outside hitter Greta Davis who played in 118 career matches with the program.