CEDAR CITY, Utah -- Sacramento State's Kayla Beal (15 kills, 13 digs) and Morgan Stanley (13 kills, 10 digs) each posted double-doubles to lead the Hornets to a 3-1 victory (25-20, 25-18, 21-25, 28-26) over Southern Utah in a Big Sky Conference volleyball match Thursday evening at Centrum Arena.
The win for the Hornets (13-11, 8-5) was their fourth straight, and allowed the team to remain in a tie for fifth place in the league standings with Montana. With just seven matches remaining in the regular season, Sacramento State sits a half game back of fourth-place Idaho State (8-4) and 1.5 games back of second-place Northern Arizona (9-3) and Portland State (9-3). The top six teams in 11-member league advance to the Big Sky Tournament at the conclusion of the regular season.
The win also gave the Hornets a season sweep of Southern Utah (2-22, 1-12), which included a three-set victory on Sept. 28 in Sacramento. In addition, the Hornets have now matched their conference win total from all of last season when they finished 8-12 in league.
Beal's 15 kills were a match high, the 13 digs were her career high, and she also finished with a .300 hitting percentage and four blocks. The senior co-captain accounted for numerous clutch points in the match, which included a fourth set where she totalled five kills. In fact, with the Hornets facing a set point at 25-26, Beal began a run which saw her tally kills on back-to-back points to put the team back up, 27-26, before combining on a block with Courtney Dietrich on match point to cement the win.
"It's always nice to win on the road," Sacramento State head coach Ruben Volta said. "We began the match blocking well and playing good defense. But Southern Utah really started to play well, and we had to respond. I thought Kayla (Beal) played exceptional tonight, and really scored some points at crucial times in the match."
Both teams hit for a similar percentage (SAC .204; SUU .197), but the Hornets had nine more kills than the Thunderbirds while also tallying four aces compared to just one for Southern Utah. The T-Birds were limited to sub .200 hitting percentages in each of the first, second and fourth frames.
For Stanley, the double-double was her second straight, and sixth overall this season. Joining Beal and Stanley with double figures in kills was Sloan Lovett who finished with 11. Middle blocker Chelcy Motes had seven kills, three blocks and a .357 hitting percentage, setter Hannah Hettinga added four kills, nine digs, 52 assists and a .571 hitting percentage, and Dietrich finished with a team-high five blocks. Hettinga now has 40-plus assists in four straight matches, the longest stretch of her career.
Lauren Aikels had four kills and a .300 hitting percentage, libero Katie Aprile had a match-high 22 digs and Lexie Skalbeck finished with two aces and seven digs.
Southern Utah was led by Kylie Schofield (14 kills) and Lusia Angilau (11 kills, 11 blocks, .400 hitting percentage).
Tonight marked the first of a four-match road trip for Sacramento State that will see the team return to the court on Saturday night at Northern Arizona.

April 8, 2014
VOLLEYBALL RELEASES ITS 2014 SCHEDULE

January 27, 2014
SACRAMENTO STATE EARNS 22 FALL BIG SKY ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS

January 24, 2014
VOLLEYBALL ADDS DIV. I TRANSFER AND LOCAL PRODUCT MADELINE CANNON

November 30, 2013
VOLLEYBALL'S HOME WINNING STREAK NAMED BIG SKY'S 16TH GREATEST MOMENT

November 28, 2013
VOLLEYBALL’S BEAL NAMED SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG SKY

November 23, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOSES IN FIVE, ELIMINATED FROM BIG SKY TOURNAMENT CONTENTION

November 21, 2013
VOLLEYBALL ONE STEP CLOSER TO PLAYOFF SPOT AFTER WIN AT MONTANA STATE

November 20, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOOKS TO GRAB PLAYOFF SPOT IN FINAL WEEK OF REGULAR SEASON

November 18, 2013
VOLLEYBALL SIGNS BOYLE, BROWN AND KURTZ TO LETTERS OF INTENT

November 16, 2013
VOLLEYBALL PICKS UP HUGE WIN, CRUSHES WEBER STATE

November 15, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO IDAHO STATE, WILL PLAY HOME FINALE TOMORROW

November 14, 2013
FORMER HORNET LINDSAY HAUPT NAMED THE BIG SKY'S 19TH BEST FEMALE ATHLETE

November 14, 2013
FINAL HOMESTAND FOR VOLLEYBALL WITH POSTSEASON IMPLICATIONS ON TAP

November 11, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS AT NORTHERN COLORADO, STILL CLINGS TO A PLAYOFF SPOT

November 9, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS IN THREE AT NORTH DAKOTA

October 31, 2013
WINNING STREAK AT FOUR AS VOLLEYBALL BEATS SOUTHERN UTAH

October 30, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOOKS TO INCREASE WINNING STREAK THIS WEEK ON THE ROAD

October 26, 2013
HOME COURT KIND AGAIN AS VOLLEYBALL BEATS EASTERN WASHINGTON

October 25, 2013
VOLLEYBALL SECURES HUGE HOME VICTORY OVER PORTLAND STATE

October 23, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HOSTS A PAIR OF LEAGUE MATCHES THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

October 19, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HITS SEASON-HIGH .398 IN FOUR-SET WIN OVER MONTANA STATE

October 18, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS AT HOME TO MONTANA

October 12, 2013
VOLLEYBALL NOW 4-4 IN CONFERENCE PLAY AFTER LOSS AT IDAHO STATE

October 11, 2013
VOLLEYBALL PICKS UP FIVE-SET ROAD WIN AT WEBER STATE

October 9, 2013
VOLLEYBALL TRAVELS TO MATCHUPS AT WEBER STATE AND IDAHO STATE

October 3, 2013
VOLLEYBALL WINS FIVE-SET NAIL BITER OVER NORTHERN COLORADO

October 2, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOOKS TO EXTEND WINNING STREAK THIS WEEK AT HOME

September 28, 2013
VOLLEYBALL DOMINATES SOUTHERN UTAH IN THREE QUICK SETS

September 27, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HITS FOR HIGH PERCENTAGE, DEFEATS NORTHERN ARIZONA

September 26, 2013
VOLLEYBALL BEGINS HOMESTAND WITH MATCHES FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT

September 21, 2013
VOLLEYBALL DROPS BIG SKY MATCHUP AT PORTLAND STATE

September 19, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOSES FIVE-SET HEARTBREAKER TO EWU IN BIG SKY OPENER

September 18, 2013
VOLLEYBALL OPENS BIG SKY PLAY THURSDAY AT EASTERN WASHINGTON

September 14, 2013
VOLLEYBALL CONCLUDES TOURNAMENT WITH LOSS TO BOISE STATE

September 13, 2013
LOVETT’S 14 KILLS NOT ENOUGH IN VOLLEYBALL’S LOSS TO IDAHO

September 13, 2013
VOLLEYBALL OPENS TOURNAMENT WITH LOSS TO NORTH TEXAS

September 10, 2013
VOLLEYBALL TRAVELS TO UC DAVIS TONIGHT, BOISE STATE LATER THIS WEEK

September 10, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS AT UC DAVIS

September 6, 2013
VOLLEYBALL STUMBLES AT HOME AGAINST SAN JOSE STATE

September 4, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HOSTS 11TH-ANNUAL SACRAMENTO STATE INVITATIONAL

September 2, 2013
LOVETT CAPS BIG WEEK WITH BIG SKY VOLLEYBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

September 1, 2013
LOVETT WITH A HUGE DAY, VOLLEYBALL NOW 3-0 AFTER WIN OVER LA SALLE


August 28, 2013
VOLLEYBALL BEGINS 2013 SEASON ON SATURDAY IN PHILADELPHIA

August 23, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HOSTS ALUMNI MATCH THIS SATURDAY

August 22, 2013
2013 VOLLEYBALL SEASON OUTLOOK