Junior Kazmiera Imrie

With the victory, Sacramento State receives the No. 2 seed in the Big Sky Tournament next week (Nov. 21-23) in Cheney, Wash. With the No. 2 seed, the Hornets receive a first-round bye in the tournament and will face either Montana State, Weber State or Northern Arizona in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 22. The six-team field for the tournament was decided tonight and is as follows: No. 1-seed Eastern Washington, No. 2 Sacramento State, No. 3 Montana State, No. 4 Weber State, No. 5 Northern Arizona and No. 6 Portland State. The winner of the single-elimination tournament receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The Hornets, who have reached the NCAA Tournament five of the past six years, concluded the regular season with a 22-10 overall record and an 11-3 mark in the Big Sky. Despite losing, Portland State (10-13, 4-10) received the sixth and final seed of the tourney as the team will make its first appearance in the Big Sky Tournament since 1997.

Joining Bandimere in double-figure kills for the Hornets were senior Jayme Wright (12 kills, 11 digs) and juniors Kazmiera Imrie (11 kills, 11 digs and a career-high tying .556 hitting percentage) and Lisa Beauchene (10 kills, 44 assists and a match-best .769 hitting percentage). Freshman Mallory Hook posted a match-high 14 digs.

Sacramento State hit .346 as a team, its third-best output of the season. Four Hornets recorded hitting percentages of at least .300 comprising Imrie, Beauchene, Bandimere (.310) and sophomore Emily Wilson (five kills, .625). Beauchene’s .769 hitting percentage (10-0-13) was a season high and the seventh-best mark in Sacramento State single-match history.

The Hornets held the advantage over Portland State in nearly every statistical category including kills (59-41), hitting percentage (.346-.202), digs (55-47), service aces (5-3) and team blocks (8.0-6.0). The team’s 59 kills tied a season high for the most kills in a three-game match (Nov. 7 vs. Montana). All six Hornet starters tallied at least one block, led by freshman Shannon Arts’ team-high four.

Portland State was paced by Katie Kost’s 12 kills while Kathy Garbacz (11 kills) and Kristina Thom (12 digs) also chipped in. The Hornets recorded just 14 attack errors during the entire match as the team hit .500, .347 and .264, respectively, in games 1-3.

Next week’s Big Sky Tournament will mark the first time in six years that the tournament has not been played in Hornet Gym. Sacramento State had won each of the last five regular-season conference championships until this season. The team’s 22 wins is the most since the 1999 Sacramento State squad posted a 22-10 record.