New-look Hornets swept by Tigers

The Sac State volleyball team played the University of the Pacific Tigers very closely for three games on Tuesday night, but nonetheless were unable to score. It suffered a 16-14, 15-13, 15-13 loss.

The match was the pre-season opener for both teams, and the Hornets did not look quite like the team that went 23-9 last season on their way to the Big Sky Conference title.

However, a different look was in the cards, according to head coach Debby Colberg.

"We're experimenting with three different lineups," she said. "We need to risk losing the first couple matches. It's not that I don't want to win, but I want to create a sense of chemistry among the players even more, especially for the Big Sky match-ups later on during the season."

Outside hitter Esther Rogers, a freshman from Portland, Oregon, collected six kills and 17 assists in her collegiate debut. Colberg has her pegged as an up-and-coming star.

"Esther played very well in the match. I believe she will be one of our top players this season and in seasons to come," she said.

In the opening game, Sac State jumped out of the gate very quickly, scoring six of the first eight points. They eventually stretched their lead to a commanding 14-5 score.

Then the roof caved in as the Tigers mounted a ferocious rally, scoring the next 11 points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second game, the Hornets began very well by scoring the first point on a kill by Rebekah Capel, and played UOP to a 5-5 tied score. Then, once again things went haywire for the home team, as attack errors by the Hornets mounted up to hand the Tigers a 13-5 cushion.

A short while later, a kill by Rogers capped a Sac State rally in which they scored eight of the next nine points to pull within one point. Alas, they couldn't quite make it over the top as an attack error by Angela Lewis gave the Tigers a 15-13 win.

In the final game, the Hornets traded points with UOP for most of the game, and even took a 13-12 lead in the late stages, before the Tigers scored the last three points to complete a sweep of the match.