THE WEEK AHEAD

• Sacramento State (5-6, 0-0) will play its first-ever Big West Conference matches this week. The Hornets will host California Baptist on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by UC Riverside on Saturday at 1 p.m.
• Originally, the Riverside match was a 7 p.m. start, but was moved to a 1 p.m. start.
• Both matches this week, and every match the remainder of the regular season will stream on ESPN+.
• The Hornets spent the last 30 years in the Big Sky Conference, but made the move to the Big West this season. The team's first four matches will come at home, including two more next week.
• The Hornets are coming off a 1-1 record at the Battle of NorCal in San Jose. The Hornets beat San Jose State in four sets, before falling in five to California. In that match vs. Cal, Sacramento State had a match point before the Bears eventually pulled out the fifth set by a 17-15 score.
• The Hornets have yet to lose at home this season (3-0), as the team went undefeated at the Sacramento State Invitational Sept. 3-5. The Hornets have won 13 of their last 14 matches at home dating back to last season. The lone loss during that stretch came in five sets to Northern Colorado on Nov. 8.
• The Hornets enjoyed home cooking over the years. In fact, since 2020, Sacramento State is 61-21 inside the Nest, good for a .744 winning percentage.
• California Baptist, which also joined the Big West this season (formerly of the WAC), will enter Thursday's match with a 3-8 record. The Lancers have dropped five of their last six matches with the lone win since Sept. 5 coming against Texas Southern. Thursday will mark the first-ever matchup between Sacramento State and California Baptist.
• UC Riverside, which plays at Utah Valley on Thursday, enters the week with a 4-7 record. The Highlanders went 2-1 last week at a tournament hosted by Southern Utah. Amazingly, UC Riverside has yet to play a home match, and owns a 2-3 record in true road contests.
• Sacramento State owns a 10-6 all-time record against UC Riverside, which includes a 3-2 mark at home. The Hornets have won the last three meetings, including a five set victory last season in Cedar City, Utah. UC Riverside has not defeated the Hornets since a 3-2 victory in the Nest on Sept. 5, 2009. Each of the last five meetings have been decided in four sets (3 times) or five sets (2 times).
• The last time Sacramento State played its first-ever conference match was a member of the Big Sky when it lost at home to Eastern Washington in three sets on Sept. 26, 1996. The Hornets would go on to finish 12-4 in the Big Sky that season.
• The victory over Nevada on Sept. 3 gave head coach Ruben Volta his 300th career victory. In his 19th season, Volta is now 304-265. That includes 20-plus wins each of the last three seasons. 

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS

• Every match the remainder of the season will stream on ESPN+ and feature live stats. That includes this week's matches with 10th-year play-by-play man Will Schilling on the call alongside analyst and Sacramento State men's club volleyball Hall of Famer Mark Harrison.
• Links for video and live stats can be found on the volleyball schedule at hornetsports.com.

NEW CONFERENCE

• After 30 years in the Big Sky (1996-25), the team has transitioned to its first year in the Big West. Gone are out-of-state conference road trips to Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, Washington and Oregon. In fact, of the team's nine road matches in Big West play, eight will be played in California.
• In its 30 years in the Big Sky, Sacramento State ripped off 10 regular season titles, and 10 tournament crowns. In conference play, the Hornets were 326-147 (.689 win%) against Big Sky opposition.

GAMLIN GOING OFF

• True freshman middle blocker Nikola Gamlin has been incredible, and is in the midst of one of the best freshman seasons in program history for any position.
• Gamlin currently ranks second in the Big West with a .385 hitting percentage, only four percentage points out of the top spot. Dating back four matches, she has just two errors in her last 47 swings.
• That includes a ridiculous .688 hitting percentage last week (23-1-32) when she had 12 kills and an .857 hitting percentage at San Jose State, followed by 11 kills and a .556 percentage vs. Cal. 
• Somehow, she did not earn Big West offensive or rookie player of the week honors.
• Her .857 hitting percentage at San Jose State is the fifth best mark in program history, and her .800 percentage in the season opener vs. South Dakota State is tied for the 10th best mark.
• Overall, she is averaging 1.89 kills and 0.72 blocks per set, including five matches with 10+ kills.

MARTHALER HAVING ANOTHER HUGE SEASON

• Six-rotation outside hitter Victoria Marthaler is on her way to a second straight monster season.
• Last year, she was honorable mention All-America, Big Sky MVP, all-Pacific Region, first team all-Big Sky, and Big Sky all-tournament. She was also selected Big West preseason all-conference this year.
• Marthaler ranked sixth in the nation a year ago with 4.89 kills per set, and seventh in the country with 5.38 points per set. She upped that average to a ridiculous 5.72 kills per set in conference play.
• This season, she has already been named all-tournament three times, and currently ranks seventh in the nation with 195 kills, and ninth in the country with 218.0 points.
• She now leads the Big West with 4.06 kills per set, and her 4.54 points per set ranks second.
• Marthaler has posted double-figure kills in all 11 matches this season, and 30 consecutive matches dating back to last season. In addition, she has at least 14 kills in all but two contests this season.

FROM THE SERVICE LINE

• Sacramento State's 90 aces rank 22nd in the nation. The Hornets have posted double-figure aces in six of 11 matches, and have registered at least seven aces in all but three contests.
• The Hornets have three players ranking among the Big West's top 10 in aces per set. That includes Amy Ito (2nd with 0.43), Makenna Wiepert (9th with 0.35) and Eleanor Weeks (10th with 0.33).

WIEPERT HAVING AN INCREDIBLE DEBUT SEASON

• Junior setter Makenna Wiepert, a transfer from UTSA, is having a very impressive debut season with the Hornets. That includes being named the Big West Setter of the Week on Monday.
• She has averages of 8.65 assists, 2.48 digs, 0.31 blocks and 0.35 aces per set while hitting .316. Amazingly, in 57 attacks, she has yet to commit an error this year. That includes 18 kills in those 57 attempts.
• In Saturday's match vs. Cal, she posted career highs in kills (6), assists (48), digs (23) and hitting percentage (.667). She has 39+ assists in four straight, and eight of the last nine matches.
• In addition, her 415 assists this season rank 32nd in the nation.
• Her assist numbers would be even larger had the Hornets not started four matches this year in a 6-2.
• Wiepert now has 1,214 career assists - 415 in a Hornet uniform. Her career high for assists in a season were 518, set during her freshman season at UTSA in 2023.

NOTABLES

Middle Skyler Gartin's six aces at San Jose State were a career high and tied for the seventh best mark in program history. Gartin is sixth in the Big West in blocks (1.10 bps) and ninth in hitting percentage (.326)…libero Reese Ampi (3.33 dps) is just 43 digs shy of 1,000 for her career…freshman rightside Mia Molnar posted a season-high 11 kills in both matches last week…sophomore Keonahi'ilani Solaita posted a season-best 15 kills vs. Cal, and has 10+ kills in four of the last six matches.