The Hornets (24-5, 11-1) won for the 12th time in their last 13 matches, and remain in first place in the Big Sky standings, one game ahead of Portland State (10-2). Sacramento State needs to win three of its final four matches of the season to win the Big Sky’s regular season crown and host the conference tournament on Nov. 16-18.

In addition, Sacramento State, which has knocked off Eastern Washington each of the last four years in the Big Sky Tournament championship match, avoided its first multiple game losing streak of the season. The Hornets fell to Portland State on Thursday. Should Sacramento State and Portland State finish the regular season with identical conference records, the Hornets would own the tiebreaker over the Vikings - by virtue of a larger scoring margin between the two teams - and earn the right to host the Big Sky Tournament.

Eastern Washington (14-8, 6-6) had been one of the league’s hottest teams, winning each of its last seven matches prior to tonight’s loss. Sacramento State now leads the all-time series with its biggest conference rival, 22-8, including victories in nine of the last 10 meetings with the Eagles.

In the fifth and decisive game, Sacramento State let a 14-10 lead slip away as the Eagles ran off four-consecutive points to tie the score at 14-14. In fact, the Eagles saved five Sacramento State game points as the Hornets also took a 15-14 lead after a kill from senior Atlee Hubbard. After EWU’s Addie Webster answered with a kill to tie the score at 15-15, Hubbard struck again for a 16-15 lead and the match ended on an attack error from Chelsea Ross.

Eastern Washington had 24 more kills (86-62) and nine more digs (88-79) than Sacramento State, but the Hornets dominated at the net, recording 16.0 team blocks. That included a match-high 10 from junior Michelle Franz, her third double-figure block effort in the last four matches and her fifth overall this season.

After a slow start which saw the reigning conference MVP (junior Lindsay Haupt) have just four kills and a .211 hitting percentage through the first three games, Haupt responded at a time when the Hornets needed her most. The Eagles had just used a 3-0 run to take a grueling 34-32 victory in game three giving Eastern Washington a 2-1 lead in the match. That is when Haupt struck for eight kills and a .583 hitting percentage over the final two games, including six kills in a 30-24 fourth-game victory. Haupt finished the match with 12 kills, a .355 hitting percentage and five blocks.

Senior Atlee Hubbard led all Hornets with 20 kills to go along with 15 digs and two blocks. Senior Leah Klemenhagen joined the Sacramento State block party with six blocks as well as five kills and a .444 hitting percentage. Junior Jennifer Ferguson tallied her second-straight double-double (and fourth of the season) with 14 kills, 16 digs and three blocks. Senior Kristin Lutes posted a match-high tying 23 digs and sophomore setter Rose Burke finished with 37 assists and 12 digs.

Eastern Washington had three players finish with double figures in kills, comprised of Chrystal Johnson (22 kills, 15 digs), Brittney Page (20 kills, 11 digs) and Webster (18 kills, 23 digs).

Sacramento State will play its final two regular-season home matches next week against Montana (Thursday, Nov. 2, 7 p.m.) and Idaho State (Saturday, Nov. 4, 7 p.m.). Hornet seniors Hubbard, Klemenhagen, Lutes and Shannon Roland will be honored prior to Saturday night’s match for their contributions to the program.