BOXSCORE: Sac. St.-NC

GREELEY, Colo. -- You could see a performance like this coming from Northern Colorado's women's volleyball team.

And on Saturday night inside Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion, the Bears just killed it.

Literally.

After coming up just short against a really strong Denver team earlier in the week, Lyndsey Benson's squad smashed 44 kills Saturday night and knocked off Sacramento State 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-23) to start off its 2008 home schedule. The Hornets came into Greeley with a 2-13 record, but this was still the same program that had won 11 straight Big Sky Conference titles.

But on this night, behind the renewed strong play of junior Taylor Smith, the Bears (8-3, 2-1 Big Sky Conference) were clearly the better team.

"Sacramento State is definitely down this year," Benson said. "But it still felt nice to come out and win and win big. It reminded us of when we defeated them last year here, when they later ended up winning the conference crown."

Smith started strong to start the year for Northern Colorado, but her performance had gone missing in the Bears' past few matches. But she came alive in front of the home crowd, collecting 12 of Northern Colorado's 44 kills with a .450 hitting percentage.

Smith came into the match ranked No. 47 in the country in hitting percentage, and that figures to only improve after Saturday's victory.

"Taylor played huge for us tonight," Northern Colorado assistant coach Tom Hunter said. "She really had a strong first set, but then she came out and topped that in set two to take us into intermission."

Junior Kenzie Shreeve also had a typically strong game for Northern Colorado (10 kills, six digs, one ace, .222 hitting percentage), but Ashley Lichtenberg's production was a pleasant surprise for Benson and the Bears.

"Ashley really does bring something when she's playing well," Benson said. "She had a great game, and it was great to see her get going again."

The Bears are now just two victories away from matching last year's record and will roll out the welcome mat for Big Sky foe Eastern Washington at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Butler-Hancock.