The Hornets will face No. 5-seed Stanford in the first round for the second year in a row. The two teams will square off on Thursday, Dec. 4, at approximately 7:30 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on www.hornetsports.com by clicking on "Live Audio" and scrolling down to the volleyball schedule.

In last year''s tournament, Stanford swept the Hornets handily (30-22, 30-8, 30-17). San Francisco and Pacific will square off at 5 p.m., with the winner of that match taking on 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 fifth in the USA Today/AVCA top 25 poll. 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, which has won three-straight matches on the road, was the only team from the Big Sky Conference to be selected to the NCAA Tournament. Eastern Washington (the conference''s regular-season champion) was not selected after finishing with a record of 22-8. The Hornets have defeated the Eagles in the Big Sky Tournament championship match each of the last two years.

Stanford has won nine of its last 10 matches, including victories over 13th-ranked Santa Clara (3-1) on Nov. 25 and 21st-ranked Notre Dame on Nov. 29. The Cardinal are 12-2 at home this season with their only losses coming to top-ranked USC and third-ranked Florida. Stanford has won five national championships (1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001) over the last 11 years.

San Francisco (23-7) will make its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance after finishing with just six wins last season. The 17-game improvement was the best in West Coast Conference history as San Francisco has won four of its last five matches. The Dons defeated the Hornets, 3-2, in San Francisco earlier this season, marking their first victory over Sacramento State in 11 years.

Despite finishing seventh in the Big West Conference, Pacific (17-13) will make its 23rd-consecutive appearance at the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers lost each of their last three conference matches of the season before posting a 2-0 record at the Community Bankers Classic this past week. Utah State, which finished sixth in the Big West with better overall and conference records than Pacific, did not make the NCAA Tournament field. The Tigers defeated Sacramento State (3-0) earlier this season at home and have won 25-of-27 meetings against the Hornets dating back to 1976.

Hornet Tournament History

This season marks Sacramento State''s sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven years. The Hornets have gone as far as the second round of the tournament (1998) once, but have been defeated in the first round in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002.

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. The 2000 team lost in the first round to host Santa Clara, 3-0, in San Jose, Calif. Last season, Stanford, which was the No. 2 seed in the tournament, swept Sacramento State, 3-0, at Maples Pavilion.

Head Coach Debby Colberg

For the 28th-straight season, Debby Colberg has controlled the Hornet sidelines. During her tenure, Colberg has posted a 718-260 record (.734 winning percentage) and has led the team to 15 league titles and 24 postseason berths. Her 718 wins rank seventh on the all-time NCAA list (two wins behind UC Santa Barbara''s Kathy Gregory) among active coaches with at least five years of Div. I experience. Colberg was just named the Big Sky Coach of the Year for a conference-record sixth time in seven seasons (1997-98, 2000-03). During her tenure, she has been honored as coach of the year 13 times, including Region Coach of the Year on four occasions. She has led the Hornets to the NCAA Tournament six of the last seven years 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 12 of those 13 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.

Big Sky Tournament Recap

Sacramento State was crowned Big Sky Tournament champions for the fifth time in seven years with a 3-2 (30-16, 22-30, 25-30, 30-24, 15-6) victory over host Eastern Washington on Nov. 23. The Hornets, who received a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed in the tournament, defeated Idaho State (30-21, 30-18, 30-17) in the semifinals.

The win over Eastern Washington marked Sacramento State''s first five-game victory of the season (1-5) and marked the first time the Hornets had come back to win after trailing, 2-1 (1-5). Prior to the Eastern Washington match, the Hornets had not scored more than 11 points in a fifth game this year.

Senior setter Lisa Beauchene, who was named the Big Sky Most Valuable Player, was also named the Big Sky Tournament MVP for the third time of her career after combining for 10 kills, 95 assists, 31 digs and eight blocks in two matches. Junior outside hitter Sandra Bandimere (team-leading 34 kills) and senior right-side hitter Kazmiera Imrie (career-high 21 kills against Eastern Washington) also represented the Hornets on the all-tournament team.

Five Hornets Named All-Big Sky Conference

A total of five Sacramento State players were named to the all-conference team this season, marking the team''s second-highest output since joining the league in 1996. The five players were comprised of seniors Lisa Beauchene (Most Valuable Player, unanimous first team) and Kazmiera Imrie (first team), juniors Sandra Bandimere (second team) and Emily Wilson (honorable mention), and freshman Kristin Lutes (Libero of the Year). Below are just some brief recaps of some of their accomplishments this season.

Lisa Beauchene: Named Big Sky Tournament MVP for a conference-record third time...unanimously selected to the first team for the third-straight year...named Big Sky Player of the Week a conference-record five times...led the conference in triple-doubles (seven) and double-doubles (23).

Kazmiera Imrie: Posted double figures in kills 23 times...second on the team and fifth in the conference with a .313 hitting percentage...also second on the team and 10th in the Big Sky in kills (3.10 per game)...named Big Sky Player of the Week on two occasions.

Sandra Bandimere: Led the team and ranked fourth in the Big Sky with 3.89 kills per game...averaging 5.10 kills per game over her last six matches...led or shared the team lead in kills in 23 matches...recorded double figures in kills in a team-leading 27 matches.

Emily Wilson: Led the Hornets and ranked fifth in the conference with 1.24 blocks per game...third on the team and seventh in the conference with a .313 hitting percentage...tallied at least six blocks in 13 matches, including a career-high 13 blocks against Santa Clara.

Kristin Lutes: Posted a Big Sky-leading 3.97 digs per game, including a Big Sky-best 4.36 digs per game against conference competition...tallied double figures in digs in all but three matches...named tournament MVP at the Panther Invitational (Sept. 12-13).

Conference Dominance

Since joining the Big Sky in 1996, Sacramento State has posted the best conference winning percentage of the league’s eight teams. The Hornets are 100-22 (.820), followed by Eastern Washington (93-29), Montana State (74-48) and Northern Arizona (71-51) as the schools with winning league records. Weber State (51-71), Montana (38-84), Idaho State (36-86) and Portland State (20-102) round out the rest of the field. Sacramento State has never lost more than four conference matches in a season and currently has a 33-match winning streak against Big Sky competition at home.

Tradition of Excellence

With 23 victories, Sacramento State extended its streak of consecutive 20-win seasons to nine as the team''s last sub-20 win year came in 1994 (18-12). Since 1979, the Hornets have recorded at least 20 wins in all but two seasons (the team was 13-19 in its first year of Div. I play in 1991). Maybe even more impressive is the fact that Sacramento State has not lost more than 12 matches since going 21-16 in 1992. Moreover, the Hornets have not lost more than three matches in a row since dropping four straight during the 1992 season.

Hornet Notables

Head coach Debby Colberg has the most Big Sky Coach of the Year awards (six) in conference history and is first all-time among Big Sky coaches with an .820 winning percentage against conference competition...sophomore middle hitter Shannon Arts tallied a career-high 13 kills at Eastern Washington and is averaging 1.96 kills per game and a .360 hitting percentage over her last eight matches...the Hornets have allowed just one opponent to hit above .300 (EWU, .333, Oct. 12)...Sacramento State is a perfect 20-0 when holding an opponent to a hitting percentage below .200 and 22-1 when leading a match, 1-0...the Hornets have won each of the last five matches when freshman outside hitter Jennifer Ferguson has recorded double figures in digs.