Sacramento State will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, and will be making its eighth appearance at the NCAA postseason event in the last nine years. The Hornets will find out where they will be playing when the NCAA announces its selections for the tournament on Sunday, Nov. 27, at 11:30 a.m. PST. The selection show will be aired live on ESPNEWS. The NCAA Tournament’s first and second rounds will take place Dec. 1-4.

With the victory, Sacramento State won its fourth-consecutive Big Sky Tournament championship and seventh since joining the Big Sky in 1996 (1997-98, 2000, 2002-05). The Hornets defeated Eastern Washington in the tournament championship match for the fourth-straight year and the sixth time in the last eight years.

Sacramento State (25-7) has now won either the Big Sky’s regular season and/or tournament championship each of the last nine years, a run that has seen the Hornets post a 124-26 record against Big Sky competition in the regular season, and a 16-3 mark in the conference tournament.

The Hornets, who won this year’s Big Sky regular season championship and the right to host the tournament, have now won 15 matches in a row, 19 of the last 20, and 24 of the last 26. Sacramento State’s winning streak matches the team’s longest since the 1998 team won 15 in a row. The Hornets’ longest winning streak during the Div. I era (1991-pres.) is 16 straight, set in 1995.

Haupt, who was just named Big Sky Most Valuable Player earlier this week, also earned Big Sky Tournament MVP honors after hitting .360 with 3.29 kills and 1.86 blocks per game over two matches. Hubbard and Lutes also received all-tournament honors for a Sacramento State team that limited its 20th-consecutive opponent to a sub-.200 hitting percentage. After hitting .283 and .302 in the first two games, respectively, the Eagles hit .154 in game three and .045 in the fourth game.

Lutes, who averaged 8.57 digs per game during the tournament, now has 646 digs this season which surpassed the previous Sacramento State single-season record of 619. Hubbard averaged a team-best 3.75 kills per game during the tournament and led the Hornets in that category in both matches.

Sacramento State and Eastern Washington (23-9) were nearly even in most statistical categories, but the Eagles could not overcome nine ball-handling errors. The Hornets finished the match with 82 digs, including 13 from Roland and 20 from Hubbard. Roland, who was inserted into the match when Jennifer Ferguson went down with a sprained ankle midway through the second game, finished with nine kills, 13 digs and two blocks as she is still recovering from a broken clavicle suffered near the beginning of the season.

The contest marked just the second time all season that Sacramento State has lost the first game of a match and rallied to a victory (the other coming against Michigan State on Sept. 17). The Hornets used runs of 12-2 in the second game, 9-4 in the third game and 11-3 in the fourth game to take command of each frame.

Eastern Washington was led by Ashley Jensen’s 16 kills, Lizzy Mellor’s 11 kills and 11 digs, and Christina Albers’ 10 kills, 42 assists, four aces and six digs. Albers, however, had all nine of the Eagles’ ball-handling errors, including four in the fourth and final game. Mellor, Jensen and Albers each represented Eastern Washington on the all-tournament team.

Sacramento State will play in one more tournament as a tune-up for the NCAA Tournament next weekend at the Bankers Classic in Stockton, Calif. The Hornets will take on tournament host Pacific on Friday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m., and will face either Saint Mary’s or 20th-ranked Ohio on Saturday, Nov. 26.

BIG SKY ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Lindsay Haupt (Sacramento State) - MVP

Kristin Lutes (Sacramento State)

Atlee Hubbard (Sacramento State)

Lizzy Mellor (Eastern Washington)

Ashley Jensen (Eastern Washington)

Christina Albers (Eastern Washington)

Laura Viren (Montana State)