With the win, the Eagles (17-6, 10-1 Big Sky) moved two games ahead of Sacramento State (20-7, 8-3) in the Big Sky standings with just three matches to play in the regular season. Eastern Washington’s final three matches include a home contest against Northern Arizona on Saturday, and road contests against Montana and Montana State. The Hornets travel to Portland State on Saturday, Nov. 6, before finishing the regular season at home against Idaho State (Nov. 11) and Weber State (Nov. 13). The Big Sky’s regular-season champion hosts the conference tournament on Nov. 18-20 as Eastern Washington has hosted the tournament each of the last two years.

Should Eastern Washington lose two of its final three matches and Sacramento State win its remaining three contests, the Hornets would own the tiebreaker by having the better scoring margin in the two matches between the teams. Sacramento State defeated Eastern Washington, 3-0, earlier this year in Sacramento.

With the loss, the Hornets, who have still won nine of their last 11 matches, had their five-match winning streak snapped. Eastern Washington has now won eight straight and 16 of its last 17 contests. The Eagles have defeated the Hornets in Cheney, Wash., on three-consecutive occasions during the regular season (2002-04).

Sophomore Atlee Hubbard led the Hornets with 18 kills, 12 digs and a .318 hitting percentage while senior Sandra Bandimere had 15 kills and 19 digs. Sacramento State allowed Eastern Washington to hit .321 as a team while the Hornets hit just .180. Seven Hornets were held to sub-.200 hitting percentages, as Hubbard, sophomore Shannon Roland (four kills, .375), senior Emily Wilson (nine kills, .214) and junior Natalie Melcher (two kills, .333) were the only four to hit above .200.

Eastern Washington destroyed Sacramento State at the net as the Eagles had 19 team blocks compared to just five for the Hornets. Wilson was held to zero blocks for just the second time this season and freshman Lindsay Haupt (two) was the only Sacramento State player with more than one block.

The Eagles’ Keva Sonderen (12 kills, eight digs, eight blocks and a .391 hitting percentage) and Ashley Jensen (15 kills, seven blocks and a match-high .520 hitting percentage) and Mellor combined for 48 of the team’s 75 kills and 14 blocks. Brittney Page (13 kills, nine digs) and Deanna Albers (10 kills, 16 digs and three blocks) also had double figures in kills for Eastern Washington.

Sacramento State had just two aces during the entire match, tying the team’s season low. The Hornets allowed Eastern Washington to hit .321, the second-highest mark by a Sacramento State opponent this year. The Hornets trailed in every statistical category, including 12 less kills (75-63) and 13 less assists (70-57).