BOISE, Idaho --
Victoria Marthaler had a season-high 23 kills, and
Reese Ampi a season-best 23 digs to lead Sacramento State to a 3-1 come from behind victory over Saint Mary's (21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon at ExtraMile Arena.
The victory concluded the Boise State Invitational for the Hornets, who dropped matches to Boise State and Eastern Washington the last two days. Coupled with its 3-2 victory over Saint Mary's at last week's Sacramento State Invitational, the Hornets have defeated the Gaels twice in eight days.
Sacramento State also picked up its first win away from home while improving to 4-5 overall this season. The Hornets are in the midst of a stretch that will see the team play a season-high five straight games away from home. That includes a pair of matches next week in San Jose.
Marthaler was named to the all-tournament team, and has now received all-tourney accolades at all three events Sacramento State has competed this season. She had double-figure kills in all three matches, 54 total kills, and finished the tournament with averages of 4.50 kills, 2.50 digs and 4.64 points per set.
In both the second and third sets, the score had been tied at 23-23. In the second, the Hornets put things away with a Saint Mary's attack error followed by a Marthaler kill. In the third, Saint Mary's had consecutive attack errors as the Hornet block put big pressure on both swings. In fact, Sacramento State finished with 11.0 team blocks, which includes at least three from four different players.
Skyler Gartin (6),
Nikola Gamlin (4),
Makenna Wiepert (4) and
Addy Scheitlin (3) all contributed to the block party.
Sacramento State, which hit negative in the first set, raised their hitting percentage each set to .209 in the second, .343 in the third, and .344 in the fourth. The Hornets finished hitting .203 compared to the Gaels' .168.
Marthaler posted her second straight double-double with 23 kills and 10 digs, and
Keonahi'ilani Solaita posted 12 kills, two aces and seven digs. No other Hornet had more than three kills. Setter
Makenna Wiepert posted 39 assists, five digs and career-high tying four blocks. Libero
Reese Ampi had a season-best 23 digs, and
Amy Ito added eight digs.
Sacramento State is back next week for a pair of matches in San Jose State. That includes Friday at San Jose State at 4 p.m., followed by Saturday vs. Cal at 2 p.m.
