With the victory, Sacramento State won its third-straight Big Sky Tournament championship (each time beating Eastern Washington on its home floor) and will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, which is set to begin on Dec. 2. The Hornets will make their seventh appearance at the NCAA Tournament in the last eight years, as the team’s dominance in the Big Sky Conference has continued.

Sacramento State has now won either the Big Sky’s regular season and/or tournament championship each of the last eight years, a run that has seen the Hornets post a 111-25 record against Big Sky competition in the regular season and a 14-3 mark in the conference tournament. That mark includes a 6-1 record in the Big Sky Tournament championship match, winning the postseason event in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and this season.

Pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 28, at 3:45 p.m. PST on ESPNEWS. Despite combining for a 48-19 record over the last two years, Sacramento State has been forced to face national power Stanford each of the last two seasons in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Sacramento State will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 25-7 record and the team has won a season-high tying five straight and 10 of its last 11 contests. The Hornets’ record is the best after 32 matches since the 1995 squad was 30-2. Eastern Washington (20-8) is now on the proverbial bubble to make the NCAA Tournament as the Eagles have been left out of the tournament each of the last two years despite posting a combined record of 51-10 over that time.

Joining Bandimere on the all-tournament team were sophomore outside hitter Atlee Hubbard (17 kills, five digs and three blocks in tonight’s match) and senior middle hitter Emily Wilson (12 kills, .333 hitting percentage and a match-high tying six blocks). The Hornets dominated Eastern Washington statistically in kills (68-53), hitting percentage (.318-.157), assists (60-50), and team blocks (14-6). The Hornets were impressive at the net all night as Wilson, and juniors Shannon Arts and Natalie Melcher each had six blocks.

Sacramento State senior setter Stephanie Gamst had five kills, a 1.000 hitting percentage, 51 assists, 11 digs and two blocks. Arts had six kills and a .308 hitting percentage to accompany her six blocks. Melcher had seven kills and a .400 hitting percentage (7-1-15) to accompany her six blocks.

Eastern Washington was led by Keva Sonderen and Lizzy Mellor who each had 12 kills while Ashley Jensen added 10 kills and four blocks.

In the first game, Sacramento State closed the frame on a 7-2 run, breaking open a 24-19 lead. The Hornets, who had 15 kills with just one error in 28 total attacks (.500), limited Eastern Washington to a .167 hitting percentage and won despite committing four service errors. Hubbard led the Hornets with five kills while Arts had three kills without an error in four attacks. Sacramento State is now 25-0 when winning the first game of a match this season.

Eastern Washington used a 5-0 run break open a 17-17 tie and take a 22-17 lead in the second game. Deanna Albers and Keva Sonderen each had two kills during the crucial run. Sacramento State would get no closer than within four points of the Eagles’ lead during the rest of the frame. After hitting .500 in game one, the Hornets hit just .217 in the second game and could not limit the Eastern Washington attack (18 kills with just three errors in 37 attacks, .405 hitting percentage). Eastern’s Ashley Jensen led all players with six kills in game to go along with two blocks.

In the third game, Sacramento State broke open a 15-14 lead by closing the frame on a 15-4 run. During the run, Bandimere had five of her game-high nine kills without an error in 14 attacks. Melcher had a game-high four blocks, including a pair of solo blocks to give the Hornets a 2-0 lead. Sacramento State never trailed during the game, as the 12-point margin of victory was also its largest lead of the frame.

In the fourth game, Sacramento State reeled off a 10-0 run to take a 26-18 lead and never looked back. Arts served out nine of those points during the run as the Hornets hit .333 while limiting Eastern Washington to a .059 mark.