Dixie State rallied from a set down to pick up a hard-fought four-set victory over Azusa Pacific, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 30-28, Saturday afternoon at the DSU SAC. The win, DSU's fourth-straight on its current seven-match homestand, evened the Storm's record at 7-7, 4-2 in the PacWest standings, while the Cougars dropped to 7-6, 3-2 in league play.

The Cougars never trailed in the opening set and led by as many as six points at 18-12. The Storm mounted a late charge to pull to within 20-18, but APU would not relinquish the lead in claiming the early one-set lead.

DSU led for most of the second frame and enjoyed a 14-10 lead midway through the stanza, but the Cougars would close the gap with a 5-1 run to pull even at 15-15. The Storm answered with a 9-4 run of their own to come within a point of squaring the match at 24-19. Again the Cougars would rally, this time with four-straight points to cut the deficit to 24-23, but freshman Krystalyn Sloan (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia HS) clinched the set for DSU with a kill to even the match at a set apiece.

After DSU claimed set three by a 25-23 count, the Storm looked as if they were going to pull away from the Cougars in the deciding fourth set as DSU created some separation with a three-point cushion at 15-12. However APU had other ideas as the Cougars rattled off five-straight points to erase the Storm lead to bolt to a 17-15 advantage. DSU pulled even at 19-19 and the two teams traded points until the score reached 28-28, which is when sophomore Brette Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) and freshman Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View HS) slammed home a pair of kills to secure the match victory for the home side.

"Azusa is a great team," DSU Head Coach Robyn Felder said. "We knew if were going to be able to beat them, we had to stay steady. We had some ups and downs, but they weren't big ones. We were able to minimize the amount of damage they did to us. We had key kids step up at big times. The mentality of this team is growing. They think they're champions now, and they're playing like it.

"That last game is what you live for," Felder added. "I thought we really showed our grit there. That's what I love about this team. They're learning how to be fighters, and in that ending there, they just outworked [Azusa]. You can't coach stuff like that. They just figured it out."

DSU finished with 48 kills for the match, though the Storm struggled to find their stroke as DSU hit just .158 for the match, including a .026 clip in game one and a .086 average in game two. Junior Delayne Daniel (American Fork, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) collected a team-high 13 kills, while Anderson finished with 11 kills. Dixie State's defense held APU to a .152 hitting percentage and recorded a season-high 15 total blocks, including nine solo blocks, which is the third-highest single match total in DSU's Division II era. Senior Makenzi Bird-Murphey (St. George, Utah/Snow Canyon HS) accounted for three of those solo blocks and had five total, while Sloan and Anderson each recorded two solo blocks.

Dixie State continues its homestand this Wednesday night as the Storm hosts Chaminade in a key PacWest match for both teams at 6 p.m., at the DSU SAC.