(MATCH NOTES)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (9-8/6-3 PacWest) opens a five-match road swing to close out October this week as the Storm heads to California for three pivotal Pacific West Conference matches. DSU, which enters the week tied for fifth in the PacWest standings, begins the trip at Fresno Pacific (4-11/4-6 PacWest) on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. (PT), at the FPU Special Events Center.

The Storm will then head north to the Bay Area for a match at Holy Names (2-17/0-10 PacWest) Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. (PT), at the HNU Tobin Gymnasium in Oakland, followed by a match at Dominican University (5-11/2-8 PacWest) Saturday, Oct. 24, at 3 p.m. (PT), at the DU Conlan Center in San Rafael. Live stats links for this week's matches can be found at www.dixieathletics.com.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: Dixie State owns a 2-1 lead in its brief series with FPU and has won two-straight overall after dropping the first-ever meeting between the two schools in 2012. DSU is 3-1 overall vs. HNU and has won three-straight vs. the Hawks in that series, while the Storm will look to remain perfect against Dominican as DSU is 9-0 all-time against the Penguins.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002) is in her fourth season on the Storm bench. Felder has posted a 55-41 overall record during her tenure, including a 22-9 mark in 2014 in leading the Storm all the way the NCAA West Region final (Sweet 16). Felder is joined on the bench by assistant coaches Liz Fisher (fourth season), Whitnee Tupe (fourth season) and volunteer assistant Nate Capps (first season). 

STORM PICKED FOURTH IN PACWEST: Dixie State was picked to finish fourth in the Pacific West Conference preseason coaches' poll. California Baptist picked up three first place votes and narrowly edged Point Loma (three first place votes) by four points, 176-172, in being tabbed as the PacWest preseason favorite. BYU-Hawai'i (169) and Dixie State (152) each collected four first place votes to finish third and fourth, respectively, followed by Concordia (136) in fifth, Hawai'i Pacific (123) in sixth and Azusa Pacific (115) in seventh to round out the top-half of the poll.

QUICK HITS: Dixie State finished 6-1its season-long seven-match homestand with a 6-1 record to climb back into the PacWest race ... five of DSU's nine wins this year have come in four sets, including the last two vs. Hawai'i Pacific and AAU ... this season the Storm is 7-2 when they win the first set and 6-1 when up 2-0 ... DSU saved its best for last as the Storm enjoyed its best hitting performance of the homestand with a .340 clip vs. AAU ... in fact it was DSU's second-best hitting percentage of the year, trailing only the Storm's school-record .440 percentage set vs. Molloy Sept. 5 ... prior to the AAU match, Dixie State had gone its previous four matches without hitting over .200, though the Storm went 3-1 over that stretch ... for just the second time this season DSU had four players register 10 or more kills in a match in the win vs. AAU ... the Storm also had four players with 10+ kills at California Baptist Sept. 18 ... senior Makenzi Bird-Murphey (St. George, Utah/Snow Canyon HS) led the way with a season-high 14 kills vs. AAU, while junior Delayne Daniel (American Fork, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) and sophomore Brette Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) each had 13 kills, and junior Lindsay Jones (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) finished with 11 kills and a match-high seven total blocks ... B. Anderson hit a career-best .706 in that match, while Bird-Murphey hit .542, and Jones padded her DSU career-leading hitting percentage (currently at .298) by hitting .409 ... in all Storm recorded a season-high 69 kills vs. AAU, with junior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) assisting on 53 of those kills, which was one off of her career-high of 54 set earlier this season vs. Notre Dame de Namur Sept. 23 ... Daniel posted her team-leading eighth double-double with 11 digs to go with her 13 kills vs. AAU ... senior Alex Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) has collected 121 digs over her last four matches, including a career-high 40 vs. Chaminade and 23 vs. AAU, and now has 1,511 digs for her career (#2 all-time) ... A. Anderson stands just 288 digs shy of becoming DSU's career digs leader ... A. Anderson (63) also needs two more service aces to move into fifth place on the Storm's career list ... Bird-Murphey (23) took over fourth place on DSU's career solo blocks list with seven solo blocks over her past four matches ... Bird-Murphey is also ranked #3 all-time in career block assists (207) and total blocks (229) … As a team Dixie State is ranked 41st-nationally blocks per set (2.2 bps), 63rd in hitting percentage (.216), 83rd in kills per set (12.7 kps), and 100th in assists per set (11.67 aps).

HEAD COACH ROBYN FELDER ON THE STORM: ?"This is a big week for us and it presents a great opportunity for us to challenge ourselves on the road. We have been working so hard in the gym every day and putting in the time and effort to get better. The girls have been so focused and so hungry that I am anxious to see us step up on the road."

UP NEXT: Dixie State closes out October and its five-match PacWest road swing next week as the Storm travels to SoCal for PacWest matches at Azusa Pacific on Friday, Oct. 30, and at conference newcomer Concordia on Saturday, Oct. 31.