SAINT GEORGE, UT- For the third consecutive match the Dixie State College volleyball team dropped a five-game match at home. This time the Red Storm was victims of first place Hawaii Pacific University 18-25, 25-16, 25-23, 24-26, 8-15.
After losing the first set to the Seasiders 25-18, the Red Storm rebounded with a vengeance, winning the 2nd set 25-16. In the game DSC committed only two hitting errors. Brita Noble picked up six of her team-high 12 kills in the 2nd frame.
In the 3rd set, DSC jumped out to a 18-13 lead behind a Noble kill and forced HPU to take a timeout. Out of the timeout HPU went on a 9-2 run to take a 22-20 lead. Dixie State fought back, Jessica Hunt (Enterprise. UT/Enterprise), making her first start of the year, earned a kill on a set from Jayci Jeffress (Brighton. CO/Brighton) to bring DSC within one. Hunt then earned her stripes buy serving DSC to an ace and giving the Red Storm a 24-22 lead. HPU earned a side-out and Kimee Clark and Madisyn Fitzgerald (Mesa, AZ/Mountain View) blocked the Natasha Bell attack to seal the game for the Red Storm.
The 4th game was similar to the 3rd, Dixie Stat jumped out in from and held and 23-21 lead only to see HPU fight off two consecutive match points for DSC and win the game and force the fifth by Tricia Yoshimura's service ace.
The final frame belonged all to HPU, Dixie State collapsed committing five errors and collecting only 4 kills. The Red Storm dropped the final frame 15-8.
With the victory Hawaii Pacific stays on top of the PacWest Conference standings with a 10-2 overall record and a 4-1 PacWest mark. Natasha Bell had match-high 18 kills and Kelly Balanay and Sanoe Recca each had 14 kills.
For Dixie State they drop to 7-6 overall and 2-3 in the PacWest. Noble had 12 kills and Hunt added 10. Clark earned 36 assists in the loss.
Dixie State and HPU will play again tomorrow at 12:00 PM.
