SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Senior Desiree Hoyum posted 20 kills and 20 digs, and junior Maddison Thivierge had four of her 11 kills in the fifth set to lead Sacramento State to a 3-2 victory over UC Davis (25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 19-25, 15-10) in a Causeway volleyball clash Tuesday evening at Colberg Court.
Thivierge (4) and Hoyum (4) combined for eight of the team’s 12 kills during the fifth set as the Hornets went on a 10-3 run to close out the decisive frame and claim the victory. Trailing, 7-5, Thivierge accounted for four of the Hornets’ next seven points, including back-to-back kills to tie the score at 7-7. Hoyum had kills at 13-10 and it was her kill at 15-10 that ended a match which lasted two hours and 10 minutes.
With the victory, Sacramento State won its third straight while improving to 5-5. The match also completed a season-long seven match homestand as the team will travel to Illinois later this week to take part in the DePaul Invitational. Seven of Sacramento State’s 10 matches this year have now gone to five sets, and the Hornets are 3-4 on those occasions. UC Davis, which had won five of six heading into tonight’s contest, fell to 7-4 with the loss.
The win also extended the Hornets’ dominance over UC Davis as Sacramento State is now 49-17 all-time against the Aggies, including victories in 13 of the last 14 matchups between the two teams.
In addition, in that fifth set, Hornet senior Emily Trudgeon, who had just been inserted into the match for the first time at the end of the fourth set, had a pair of kills, and freshman Janelle Currey added two kills and six digs. Sacramento State hit .310 (12-3-29) in the decisive frame while UC Davis had seven less than kills (5) and hit only .143.
“I was very happy with our aggressiveness in the fifth set,” Sacramento State head coach Ruben Volta said. “We made some big plays in pressure situations and we’ve had a few matches this year where we haven’t done that. I thought we played really well defensively and made some big digs at key times. Defense is about effort, and the effort was definitely there tonight.”
Already ranked first in the Big Sky Conference and 25th in the nation in digs per set, Sacramento State improved that number tonight with 102 digs. Five Hornets recorded double figures in digs, comprised of Currey (season-high 25), sophomore Breanne Menees (21), Hoyum (20), senior Melissa Melcher (season-best 17) and freshman Sydney Kordic (12).
Thivierge hit better than .320 for the third straight match, and finished with 11 kills, a .323 hitting percentage and three blocks. Hoyum’s 20 kills and 20 digs marked her eighth double-double this season and third time she went for 20 and 20 in a match. Currey also recorded her eighth double-double (13 kills, 25 digs) as she and Hoyum sit atop the Big Sky in double-doubles.
Sophomore Kelsey Elston, already third in the Big Sky in blocks, tallied a match-high tying eight to go along with six kills.
UC Davis was led by Allison Whitson’s 16 kills, Kayla Varney’s 12 kills and 14 digs, and Avreeta Singh added 27 digs.
Sacramento State plays three matches later this week in Chicago, as the team takes on Western Kentucky on Friday (3 p.m. PDT), and both Eastern Michigan (8 a.m. PDT) and host DePaul (5:30 p.m. PDT) on Saturday.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Senior 
