With the win, Sacramento State (22-11) advances to the Big Sky Tournament championship match tomorrow night (Saturday, Nov. 22) against the winner of the Montana State/Eastern Washington match played later tonight. The winner of Saturday’s championship match will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, a place the Hornets have been five times in the last six years (1997-00, 2002).

Should the Hornets match up with Eastern Washington in the championship match, it would mark the fourth-consecutive year the two teams have met for the Big Sky title. Sacramento State defeated Eastern Washington in last season’s Big Sky Tournament championship match in Cheney. With tonight’s win, the Hornets improved to 7-1 in Big Sky Tournament semifinal contests.

The Hornets swept Idaho State in all three meetings between the two teams this year as the Bengals finish the season with a 20-9 overall record. In addition, Sacramento State has defeated the Bengals 15-straight times over the last seven years while sweeping Idaho State in five of the last six meetings.

The Hornets hit .314 as a team while limiting Idaho State to a .072 mark. Sacramento State had just 10 errors in 118 total attacks as the Hornets led the Bengals in kills (47-38), hitting percentage, assists (45-34), digs (65-51) and team blocks (8-3).

Bandimere’s 15 kills accompanied a .484 hitting percentage as the Roseville, Calif., native had zero errors in 31 total attacks. Bandimere led the Hornets in kills in all three games as her hitting percentage was the highest for any player in the match. Joining Ferguson in double-figure kills for the Hornets were senior Lisa Beauchene (11 digs, 34 assists and a match-high six blocks) and freshman libero Kristin Lutes (12 digs). Junior Emily Wilson, who just received all-conference honors for the first time of her career, finished with nine kills, three blocks and a .467 hitting percentage (9-2-15).

Idaho State was led by Ali Gorny’s 14 kills and match-high 20 digs, while Jennie James was second on the squad with nine kills.

In the first game, the Hornets used a 9-0 run midway through the frame to take a commanding 23-13 lead. Idaho State got back to within seven points (27-20), but could get no closer the rest of the way. Bandimere led the Hornets with five kills as the Hornets hit .333 in the game. Gorny had seven of the Bengals’ 14 kills.

In game two, Sacramento State used a 5-0 run to go up, 10-5, and never led by anything less than five points the rest of the way. The Hornets hit .350 in the frame while limiting the Bengals to a .119 mark. Bandimere again led the Hornets in kills as she tallied four in 12 attempts. Sacramento State committed just two errors in 40 total attacks during the game.

In the third game, Sacramento State led from start to finish as the Hornets opened up a lead as large as 14 points (27-13). The Bengals hit -.038 as the team never hit above .163 in any of the three games during the match.

Sacramento State is now 21-1 when winning the first game of a match, 19-0 when holding an opponent below a .200 hitting percentage, 20-1 when outhitting an opponent, and 15-2 when outblocking an opponent this year. The Hornets’ only loss of the season when winning the first game of a match came in a 3-2 loss on the road at San Francisco.