Sacramento State has struggled on the road of late as the team has lost each of its last three matches away from home (3-0 at Eastern Washington; 3-2 at San Francisco; 3-2 at Northern Arizona). Last Saturday''s loss against Northern Arizona was especially disheartening as the Hornets had beaten the Lumberjacks five-straight times and seven of the last eight meetings overall. The Hornets are now 3-4 on the road this year, and 1-2 against conference competition.

The Hornets are currently alone in second place in the Big Sky standings, two games behind front-running Eastern Washington (8-0). The Eagles have won each of their last 13 matches and have dropped just three games during that span. Idaho State is on the Hornets'' heels, just one-half game behind Sacramento State with a 6-3 conference record. However, the Hornets defeated Idaho State, 3-0, earlier this season in Sacramento and hold the tiebreaker over the Bengals.

Since joining the Big Sky in 1996, the Hornets have never placed worse than second place in the conference standings. The top two teams in the conference receive first-round byes in the Big Sky Tournament, scheduled for Nov. 20-22 at the regular-season champion''s home court. Sacramento State has just six conference matches remaining on the schedule.

Montana State will enter Friday night''s match with a 14-7 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the Big Sky. The Bobcats have lost three of their last four matches, but defeated Weber State last week in Ogden, Utah. Montana State is under the leadership of first-year head coach Miya Malauulu and has reached the Big Sky Tournament each of the last eight seasons. Sacramento State defeated the Bobcats, 3-1, earlier this season and own a 19-4 all-time record over MSU.

Montana, which hosts Northern Arizona on Friday, enters the week with a 6-15 overall record and a 1-8 Big Sky mark. The last-place Grizzlies have lost eight matches in a row and have won just four games over that span. Montana is 2-7 at home this year and has not won in Missoula since defeating Weber State on Sept. 25. Sacramento State, which defeated Montana, 3-0, earlier this year, has won eight in a row over the Grizzlies and holds a 14-4 all-time series advantage.

A Look At Last Week''s Action

Sacramento State fell in five games on the road to both San Francisco (27-30, 30-28, 20-30, 30-21, 15-7) and Northern Arizona (30-25, 31-29, 23-30, 22-30, 15-11) last week. The Hornets combined to hit just .188, as the opposition averaged exactly 4.0 more kills per game than Sacramento State. The team''s .148 hitting percentage against Northern Arizona was the fourth-worst performance of the season as only one Hornet hit above .200 (Sandra Bandimere, .317). Against San Francisco, the Hornets blew a 1-0 and 2-1 lead, and hit just .173 over the last two games.

Head Coach Debby Colberg

For the 28th-straight season, Debby Colberg will control the Hornet sidelines. During her tenure, Colberg has posted a 710-259 record (.733 winning percentage) and has led the team to 14 league titles and 22 postseason berths. Her 710 wins rank seventh on the all-time NCAA list (four wins behind UC Santa Barbara''s Kathy Gregory) among active coaches with at least five years of Div. I experience. Last season, Colberg was named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year for the fifth time in six seasons (1997-98, 2000-02). During her tenure, she has been honored as coach of the year 12 times, including Region Coach of the Year on four occasions. She has led the Hornets to the NCAA Tournament five of the last six years (1997-00, 2002) and has posted 23 career 20-win seasons.

Colberg came to Sacramento State in 1976 and finished 9-8 in her first season. The long coaching sojourn has taken Colberg through the ranks, from AIAW play in the late 1970s, through Division II and now Division I. In 27 years, she has coached just two losing squads and her teams have averaged 25.7 wins per season. The 1989 American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year and the coach with the best winning percentage in any sport at Sacramento State, 2003 marks Colberg’s 13th season as a Division I coach. During that time, she has led Sacramento State to winning seasons in 11 of those 12 Division I years.

She also had the added responsibility of serving as Sacramento State’s athletics director from February of 1999 until May of 2002.

Unbeaten Streaks Fall

Not only did the Hornets go winless in two matches last week, the team also saw three of its unbeaten streaks end. The Hornets had been 14-0 when winning the first game, 7-0 when leading 2-1, and 10-0 when outblocking their opponents. Sacramento State won the first game against San Francisco and eventually held a 2-1 lead over the Dons before losing the match. The Hornets outblocked both San Francisco (13.0-7.0) and Northern Arizona (12.5-8.0), but lost both matches. The first game of a match had been a clear indicator of the eventual winner as the Hornets are now 14-1 when winning the first game and 1-9 when losing the opening frame.

Fifth Game Struggles

Sacramento State''s record in five-game matches this year dropped to 0-5 with last week''s losses. In fact, the Hornets have not been close in a fifth game this year as the team has yet to score more than 11 points in the deciding frame. The opposition (Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ohio, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Northern Arizona) has outscored the Hornets by a combined score of 75-49, in the fifth game. The Hornets have combined to hit .126 in the fifth game and have yet to hit better than .214.

Dominating Defense

Head coach Debby Colberg has always stressed good defense and passing as Sacramento State has finished no lower than second in the Big Sky in digs since joining the conference in 1996. This year is no different as the Hornets'' average of 17.70 digs per game is the best mark in the Big Sky, 0.8 digs per game better than second-place Montana State (16.82 per game). The Hornets were 19th in the nation in digs per game prior to last week, but the team slipped out of the top 20 after averaging just 14.20 digs per game against San Francisco and Northern Arizona.

Freshman libero Kristin Lutes continues to lead the Big Sky with 3.84 digs per game while senior Lisa Beauchene (3.17) and freshman Jennifer Ferguson (3.09) have been among the conference leaders for the better part of the season. Lutes, who starred at Kentlake High School in Kent, Wash., is also averaging a conference-best 4.00 digs per game against Big Sky opposition. Sacramento State currently has five players averaging more than 2.0 digs per game comprising Lutes, Beauchene, Ferguson, junior Sandra Bandimere (2.45) and sophomore Mallory Hook (2.18). Sacramento State has allowed just one opponent to hit better than .300 (Eastern Washington, .333) this season, and only four opponents have hit above .250. Opponents have combined to hit .191 overall.

November Heat

If the last eight years are any indication for things to come, Sacramento State should enjoy a successful month of November. Over the last eight years, the Hornets have combined for a 52-14 record in the month of November. In fact, during that eight-year span, the team has lost more than two matches just one time (5-4 in 1996). Last season, Sacramento State posted a 7-2 November record, including three sweeps.

Beauchene Continues To Dominate

Despite being a setter, senior Lisa Beauchene ranks in the top 10 in four of six Big Sky individual categories. The Auburn, Wash., native is third in assists per game (10.57) and hitting percentage (.348), tied for fifth in service aces (0.32 per game) and seventh in blocks (0.92 per game). A unanimous first team all-Big Sky selection each of the last two years, Beauchene is just 0.03 digs per game (3.12) away from ranking among the top 10 in that category as well.

Beauchene has been named to the all-tournament team at all four tournaments the Hornets have appeared in this season. Also, she has been named Big Sky Player of the Week three times, increasing her career number of conference player of the week awards to seven. Beauchene has seven triple-doubles this year (18 for her career) and has hit better than .400 on 11 occasions, including a season-high .714 mark (10-0-14) against Eastern Illinois.

The team co-captain has hit at least .300 in all but nine matches this season. She has posted double digits in kills eight times and double digits in digs 17 times. In addition, Beauchene has started 121-consecutive matches and has yet to miss a contest during her entire career. On Sacramento State''s career top 10 list, Beauchene now ranks first in hitting percentage (.351), third in assists (4,733), and 10th in both digs (1,315) and kills (829). She is just 20 blocks shy of moving into 10th place in that category as well.

Hornets Weigh In On POW Honors

A Sacramento State player has received Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors a school-record five times this season, surpassing the previous mark of four, set in 1999 and 2001. Besides Lisa Beauchene (Sept. 8, Sept. 15 and Oct. 20), junior Emily Wilson (Sept. 22) and senior Kazmiera Imrie (Oct. 6) also received the award this season. By comparison, no other Big Sky team has received more than two player of the week awards this season.

Brief Notables

Freshman outside hitter Sandra Bandimere combined for 34 kills in two matches last week, and has now led the team in that category 17 times this season...sophomore middle hitter Shannon Arts is averaging 1.81 kills per game and a .338 hitting percentage over her last four matches. That comes in sharp contrast to the numbers she put up during her first 20 matches of the year (1.19 kills per game and a .135 hitting percentage)...one unbeaten streak that has not been broken is the Hornets are 12-0 when holding an opponent to a hitting percentage below .200...senior right-side hitter Kazmiera Imrie has recorded at least 15 kills in six matches this year...junior middle hitter Emily Wilson has nine service aces over her last three matches, including a season-high five at San Francisco. Wilson has also hit at least .400 in eight of her last 15 matches...after averaging 4.18 digs per game through the first 18 contests of the season, freshman libero Kristin Lutes is averaging 2.96 digs per game over her last seven matches.