ST. GEORGE, Utah - Maddie Rex (Tucson, AZ/Sabino) posted 12 kills to lead the Dixie State women's volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-11, 26-24, 25-23) sweep over a Hilo Vulcan team that made the Red Storm work down the stretch for a win.

DSU (17-7, 14-2) rolled in the opening set but faced late rallies in sets two and three from the Vulcans (8-12, 7-10). The Red Storm were able to regroup in both of the last two to pull out a hard-fought victory. Dixie State hit .237 for the match and had seven service aces, including three from Shelby Sorenson (Lehi, UT/Lehi). 

"The girls have put in the time this season to be where we are at," head coach Robyn Felder said. "We need to pull together, finish strong and put together a complete game tomorrow. Hilo was a very good test for us and we are ready to finish strong."

The win sets up a huge match in the Pacific West Conference title race tomorrow against conference leader and nationally-ranked, No. 4 BYU-Hawaii.

Kailey Avery (Timpanogos, UT/Timpanogos) and Makenzi Bird (Saint George, UT/Snow Canyon ) each had three block assists while Nicole Koehler (Sandy, UT/Alta) was big at the net also with four block assists. 

The Red Storm dominated the opening set, steadily building up a big lead at 19-8. Up 20-11, Dixie State picked up five straight to make the first set look easy with a 25-11 win. DSU hit .321 in set one.

Set two looked to be in cruise control with the Red Storm leading 9-1, but a late rally from Hilo made things interesting. A 7-1 run tied the match at 24-24 but a Vulcan service error and another error from Hilo ended any hopes to even the match.

The Vulcans took an early lead in the third set and kept Dixie State on its toes. The Storm came back to lead by as many as five but Hilo came back again to make it a one-point game on multiple occasions. Koehler got the final kill up 24-23 to win it and help DSU sweep it 3-0.

The match against BYU-Hawaii is set for Wednesday at 6 p.m. from Student Activities Center.