The Hornets, who received an automatic berth after winning the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Nov. 22, will face No. 5-seed Stanford in the first round on Thursday, Dec. 4, at approximately 7:30 p.m. This marks the second-consecutive season in which Sacramento State will travel to Stanford for its first-round match-up. Last year, Stanford was the No. 2-seed and beat Sacramento State, 3-0 (30-22, 30-8, 30-17).

Pacific and San Francisco will square off at 5 p.m. on Thursday (Dec. 4) with the winner of that match facing the Sacramento State-Stanford winner on Friday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. All matches will take place at Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus.

The Cardinal (23-6), who were crowned national champions in 2001, are currently ranked sixth in the USA Today/AVCA top 25 poll and received the No. 5 seed in the 64-team tournament. The top 16 teams in the tournament were seeded nationally and placed within four regions. The teams tabbed as the top seeds were USC, Hawai’i, Florida and Pepperdine.

Sacramento State enters the tournament with a 23-11 overall record and an 8-1 mark over the team’s last nine matches. The Hornets, who have won either the Big Sky Tournament and/or regular-season championship each of the last seven years, defeated Eastern Washington in this season’s conference tournament final. Sacramento State has won five Big Sky regular-season championships (1997-01) and five Big Sky Tournament championships (1997-98, 2000, 2002-03).

Despite finishing seventh in the Big West Conference, Pacific will enter the tournament with a 17-13 record while San Francisco enters the tournament with a 23-7 mark. While the Hornets have yet to face Stanford this season, Sacramento State did lose on the road to both Pacific (3-0) and San Francisco (3-2) earlier this season. The Dons will be making their first-ever appearance at the NCAA Tournament while Pacific earns its 23rd-consecutive bid.

Sacramento State made its first appearance in the NCAA Div. I Tournament in 1997 when it lost to Pacific, 3-1, in the first round at the University of Washington. In 1998, the Hornets defeated Houston, 3-0, in the first round before dropping their second-round match to host Pacific, 3-0. In 1999, the Hornets lost their first-round match to Minnesota, 3-0, in Los Angeles on the USC campus. The 2000 team lost in the first round to host Santa Clara, 3-0, in San Jose, Calif. The only time that Sacramento State has not appeared in the NCAA Tournament over the last seven years was during the 2001 season.

The Hornets are the only team from the Big Sky Conference to make the NCAA Tournament as Big Sky regular-season champion Eastern Washington’s season ends with a 22-8 record.

Sacramento State faced a total of five opponents that made the NCAA Tournament this season, posting a 1-4 record against those teams. That included a victory over Saint Mary’s, and losses to Loyola Marymount, Pacific, San Francisco and Santa Clara.