BOISE, Idaho -- Sacramento State played its fifth five-setter of the young season, but fell to Eastern Washington, 3-2 (25-17, 12-15, 25-16, 12-25, 15-10), on Friday afternoon at ExtraMile Arena.
Today marked the second round of the Boise State Invitational, a three-day tournament that will see the Hornets play tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. PT against Saint Mary's. The Hornets opened the tournament yesterday with a loss to host Boise State.
Through eight matches, Sacramento State (3-5) has already played five 5-setters, and are 2-3 in those outcomes. In today's match, none of the five sets were close, as Eastern Washington jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fifth and never looked back.
Statistically, the Hornets should have won this match. Sacramento State was better in nearly every statistical category, including kills (53-45), hitting percentage (.182-.146), assists (50-41), aces (10-4) and digs (79-74). However, the Hornets had 11 service errors, including two in the pivotal fifth set. That included big service errors at 4-5 and 10-12 of the fifth. The error at 10-12 was especially crushing as the Hornets were on a 4-1 run to get back in the frame.
Outside hitter
Victoria Marthaler was very good, finishing with 19 kills (10 more than any other Hornet) to go with a .320 hitting percentage and career-best 16 digs. She also had three blocks.Â
Freshman
Nikola Gamlin finished with eight kills, which included four kills on four swings in the fifth set. In fact, it was Gamlin who accounted for half of the team's kills in the fifth frame.
Skyler Gartin had nine kills, a .381 hitting percentage and seven blocks, and freshman
Mia Molnar nine kills, four digs and three blocks.
Setter
Makenna Wiepert posted her sixth double-double with 39 assists, three aces and 15 digs. Libero
Reese Ampi had 19 digs, and narrowly missed her 13th career match with 20+ digs.
Amy Ito was very good, finishing with 10 digs and three aces. That included serving out 10 straight points in the fourth set (three aces during the run).
