Fresh off a pair of three-game sweeps over Pacific and Northern Arizona, the Sacramento State volleyball team (17-6, 6-2 Big Sky Conference) returns to action for three matches this week. The Hornets, who have won six of their last seven, travel to UC Davis on Tuesday, Oct. 26, for their final non-conference match of the regular season, before returning home to face conference foes Montana (Thursday, Oct. 28, 7 p.m.) and Montana State (Saturday, Oct. 30, 7 p.m.). Sacramento State''s 17-6 record is its best after 23 matches since the 1997 squad posted the same record.

The Hornets are currently in third place in the conference standings behind Eastern Washington (7-1) and Montana State (7-2) with just six Big Sky matches remaining on the schedule. Sacramento State, which has never finished worse than second place in the Big Sky standings since joining the league in 1996, will play four of its final six conference matches at home. The Hornets are 9-1 at home this season with all nine victories coming via a three-game sweep.

Sacramento State can gain ground in the conference this week with a victory over second-place Montana State. The top six teams in the eight-team Big Sky advance to the conference tournament with the first and second-place teams receiving a bye in the first round. The regular-season champion hosts the three-day tournament which begins Nov. 18.

UC Davis will enter Tuesday''s match with a 1-16 record as the Aggies have lost 10 in a row since their lone victory over Brown (3-1) on Sept. 11. UC Davis, which joined the Div. I ranks this year, has not played Sacramento State since the 2001 season (a 3-0 Hornet victory inside the Hornets Nest). Sacramento State has defeated the Aggies in each of the last eight meetings (dating back to 1993) and owns a 44-16 all-time record against UC Davis.

Montana will enter Thursday night''s match with a 5-14 overall record and a 2-7 mark in the Big Sky. The Grizzlies began the year 0-7 in the conference until winning twice last week (home victories over Idaho State and Weber State). Sacramento State defeated Montana (3-0) earlier this season in Missoula and own a 16-4 record in the series between the two teams. The Grizzlies are the last team to defeat Sacramento State in regular-season play inside the Hornets Nest (a 3-2 victory in 1999).

Montana State, which travels to Northern Arizona on Thursday, enters the week with a 15-5 overall record and a 7-2 conference mark. The Bobcats have won seven of their last eight conference matches after beginning the season with a loss at Idaho State. The team is 4-4 on the road, including a 3-1 loss at Eastern Washington on Oct. 15. Montana State defeated Sacramento State (3-0) earlier this season in Bozeman, but has not defeated the Hornets in Sacramento since the 1997 season (a span of nine-consecutive losses). Sacramento State leads the overall series, 15-5, between the two teams.

Head Coach Debby Colberg

For the 29th-straight season, Debby Colberg controls the Hornet sidelines. During her tenure, Colberg has posted a 735-267 record (.734 winning percentage) and has led the team to 15 league titles and 24 postseason berths. Her 735 wins rank fifth on the all-time NCAA list (one win ahead of UC Santa Barbara''s Kathy Gregory) among active coaches with at least five years of Div. I experience. Colberg has been named the Big Sky Coach of the Year a conference-record six times in the last 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 (1991-pres.). In 28 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, 2004 marks Colberg’s 14th season as a Division I coach. During that time, she has led Sacramento State to winning seasons in 12 of the program''s 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.

Three And Done

For the people who have attended a Sacramento State volleyball match this season, chances are they didn''t stay very long. Eleven of the team''s last 14 matches and 16 of the 23 contests this season have lasted just three games. Three-game matches have been kind to the Hornets this season as the team is 14-2 in such contests, including victories over San Francisco, San Jose State, Oregon, Eastern Washington and Pacific. In fact, Sacramento State has been swept just twice this year (by Notre Dame and Montana State) and the Hornets are 69-27 in three-game matches since 1999.

First Game Tells The Tale

If every match this season is any indication, the first game will dictate the outcome of any Sacramento State volleyball match. Amazingly, the Hornets are 17-0 when winning the first game of a contest and 0-6 when losing the first frame. In the team''s 17 victories, the Hornets are outscoring opponents in the first game by an average of 9.5 points. Opponents have outscored Sacramento State by an average of 8.4 first-game points in the Hornets'' losses.

Freshman Sensation

Freshman middle hitter Lindsay Haupt had arguably her best week of the season last week as the Etna, Calif., native combined for a .559 hitting percentage to go along with averages of 3.33 kills and 1.17 blocks per game. Haupt, who has started each of the last three matches, had 20 kills with just one error in 34 total attacks during the week.

She played a major role in snapping Sacramento State’s 11-match losing streak against Pacific on Tuesday as she tallied a career-high 12 kills to go along with a .579 hitting percentage (12-1-19) and four blocks. In Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Northern Arizona, Haupt had eight kills with zero errors in 15 attempts (.533) to go along with three blocks. Haupt, who was making her eighth and ninth starts of the season against Pacific and Northern Arizona, hit at least .530 in both matches.

Through the first 12 matches of the season, Haupt was averaging just 1.32 kills and 0.59 blocks per game to go along with a .233 hitting percentage. Over her last 10 matches, however, she has recorded a .350 hitting percentage with averages of 2.25 kills and 1.18 blocks per game.

Home Sweet Home

Since 1995, Sacramento State is 108-21 (.837 winning percentage) at home, while losing just nine times over the last five years. Five of those nine losses came against ranked opponents (Pacific twice, Santa Clara twice and BYU). Sacramento State had its 11-match home winning streak snapped in a five-game loss to Saint Mary''s on Sept. 21. In regular-season play, the team is 59-5 against Big Sky competition at home since joining the league in 1996. Moreover, the Hornets have won 36-consecutive regular-season matches against conference competition inside the Hornets Nest and haven''t lost since Oct. 14, 1999 (3-2 loss to Montana).

Defense Wins

Sacramento State finds itself in familiar territory, alone atop the Big Sky Conference in digs per game (19.18). In fact, the Hornets are currently 14th in the nation in that category and have limited the opposition to a minuscule .142 hitting percentage. Since joining the Big Sky, the Hornets'' best mark for opponents'' hitting percentage was .177, set in 1998. At its current pace, Sacramento State would shatter that record by 35 points as opponents have combined to hit .183 against the Hornets over the last eight years.

Sacramento State is currently 15-0 when tallying more digs than its opponent and 2-6 when trailing in digs. Only four opponents have hit better than .200 against the Hornets (Notre Dame, Nevada, Montana State and Idaho State), and eight opponents have failed to crack the .100 mark. Head coach Debby Colberg has always stressed good defense and passing, and the team currently has two players ranked among the top seven in digs in the Big Sky (sophomore Kristin Lutes is second with 4.65 per game; senior Sandra Bandimere is sixth with 4.01 per game).

Hornet Briefs

Senior outside hitter Sandra Bandimere (third in the Big Sky with 4.27 kills per game) had her streak of seven-consecutive matches with at least 12 kills come to an end when she tallied eight against Northern Arizona. She has led or tied for the team lead in kills in all but four matches this season...senior middle hitter Emily Wilson is second in the Big Sky with 1.49 blocks per game and fifth with a .299 hitting percentage. The Vacaville, Calif., native has at least five blocks in five of her last six matches...with two more matches last week, head coach Debby Colberg has coached the Hornets in 1,002 matches during her 29-year tenure with the team...junior Mallory Hook is averaging 3.90 digs per game since taking over for the injured Kristin Lutes at libero (a span of three matches)...junior rightside hitter Natalie Melcher has played sparingly over the last four matches with injury. Junior Shannon Arts, who played exclusively at middle hitter during her first two years with the program, has seen the most time on the right side during Melcher''s absence...in two matches last week, sophomore outside hitter Atlee Hubbard posted 3.67 kills and 4.67 digs per game to go along with a .352 hitting percentage.