SAN FRANCISCO - Four Hornets tallied double figures in kills, led by sophomore Jennifer Ferguson’s 15, as Sacramento State knocked off San Francisco, 3-1 (30-18, 31-33, 32-30, 30-28), in a non-conference volleyball match Tuesday evening at War Memorial Gym. With the victory, Sacramento State won for the seventh time in the team’s last eight matches to improve to 8-6 this season. The Hornets, who improved to 3-2 on the road, begin their Big Sky Conference portion of the season at home this Thursday, Sept. 22 (vs. Montana State at 7 p.m.) and Saturday, Sept. 24 (vs. Montana at 7 p.m.),
Sacramento State has won three-straight matches on the road against Houston, Miami and San Francisco. In addition, the Hornets snapped a two-match losing streak on San Francisco’s home floor and improved to 20-4 all-time against the Dons. With the loss, San Francisco, who lost for the first time all season at home (7-1), dropped to 12-3 overall this season.
Joining Ferguson with double-figure kills for the Hornets were senior Shannon Arts (career-high tying 14 kills, .297 hitting percentage), sophomore Michelle Franz (11 kills, .357 hitting percentage and a season-high tying eight blocks) and junior Atlee Hubbard (10 kills, 17 digs and six blocks).
Franz, who continues to rank among team leaders in hitting percentage in nearly ever match, has now hit at least .350 in six-straight matches and seven of the last eight. Arts has posted double-figure kills in all but five matches this year and Hubbard posted her team-leading ninth double-double (kills and digs) of the season.
San Francisco posted better numbers than the Hornets in kills (76-62) and digs (94-80), but Sacramento Stage again controlled the net, outblocking the Dons, 15-10. In fact, the Hornets had four players post at least five blocks, comprised of Franz, Hubbard, senior setter Natalie Melcher (46 assists, six digs and five blocks) and sophomore Lindsay Haupt (seven kills and five blocks). The Hornets have now posted at least 12.0 team blocks in four of their last five matches and six of their last nine.
The Dons were led by Kristin Hasselberg’s 23 kills and 16 digs, while KeLicia Shorts added 20 kills, Jencie LeJeune 14 kills and Brynn Maurer a match-high 32 digs. San Francisco hit just .177, committing 39 errors in 209 total attacks.
After playing 10 of its first 14 matches away from home, Sacramento State will wrap up the season with nine of its final 18 regular-season matches in the friendly confines of the Hornets Nest.
