Volleyball climbing up the ranks of Big Sky conference

Tasman Dwyer led Sac State volleyball with 19 kills and 5 blocks in their win over Idaho State in the Hornet Gym on Saturday.

Dwyer killed 19-of-37 for a .378 average against the Bengals, highlighted by an authoritative kill to end the third game.

The six-foot middle hitter said she didn’t get much playing time last year and is glad to be out on the court this season.

“I just want to be happy out there and remind everybody to have fun,” Dwyer said. “You have got to love the game.”

The scores were 15-9, 9-15, 15-11 and 15-5, dropping Idaho State to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in conference.

Head coach Debby Colberg was happy with the team’s solid play late in the match, claiming they struggled the night before against Cal State Northridge.

“We served tough, dug late and the defense picked up.” Colberg said. “We were slow in maturing as a team this year, but we are approaching our games very business-like.”

The Hornets used 10 of their 11 roster players to beat the Bengals 3-1 in front of a screaming crowd of 364.

Idaho State battled, but the Hornets’ depth was too much.

Down 4-9 in the third game, junior middle hitter Sarah Chlebana served five consecutive points to tie the score at nine, forcing a Bengal time out. Idaho State would only score seven more points for the remainder of the match.

Senior outside hitter and former State Hornet Player of the Week Angela Lewis hit seven kills in 11 attempts in the crucial third game, putting the Hornets up 2-1 and deflating the Idaho State attack.

Chlebana finished the match just behind Dwyer with 17 kills in 39 attempts for a .371 average while Lewis led the team with 18 digs.

Senior setter Maureen Rafferty left the game with 5,591 career assists, only 143 shy of Suzie Severyn’s Big Sky conference record of 5,734. She added 56 assists in her chase of the mark while recording a triple-double with her added 10 kills and 13 digs.

Rafferty contended that the career mark is insignificant to her.

“The individual numbers don’t matter to me at all, just that we win,” Rafferty said. “Someone else will come along in a few years and break it.”

The women’s team is young and Colberg thinks her players expect too much from themselves.

“They set their expectations high and get frustrated when they fail to meet them,” Colberg said.

The Hornets face Montana State in the Hornet Gym on Monday. The Bobcats are tied with Sac State for third place in the Big Sky. They will face fourth place Montana, 3-3 in Big Sky, at home on Thursday followed by eight more conference games this season.