Dixie State moved into first place in the Pacific West Conference standings Saturday night as the Storm outlasted Concordia in five sets, 20-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18, 15-8, in Irvine, Calif. The win, the team's seventh-straight and 11^th in 12 matches overall, pushed DSU's season mark to 14-8/11-3 in PacWest play, while the Eagles dropped to 13-11/9-6.

The Eagles trailed briefly in the opening set when DSU erased an early 5-1 deficit to take a 10-9 lead. However Concordia would go on to score four of the next five points in the frame and pulled away for the first set win. Dixie State tied the match at 1-1 with a seven-point win in set two, breaking a 15-15 tie with a 10-3 run, which included three kills from junior Lindsay Jones (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) and two more from senior Makenzi Bird-Murphey (St. George, Utah/Snow Canyon HS) and freshman Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View HS).

Concordia led wire-to-wire in taking set three and the Eagles looked as if they were well on their way to the match victory in the fourth stanza as CUI scored six-straight points to open the set en route to a 7-1 lead. Dixie State had other ideas as the Storm slowly chipped away and eventually pulled even at 17-17. Then DSU put the set away by scoring seven-straight points, and nine-consecutive points overall with Bird-Murphey on serve, including two points which knotted the score at 17 apiece, to force a deciding fifth set.

As they did the night before in their win at Azusa Pacific, the Storm bolted out of the gate in the final frame as Dixie State scored the first six points, five of which came on Duryea's serve, while Bird-Murphey recorded five of her career-high 17 kills in the set, including her final kill of the night on match point to seal the road sweep.

"Tonight's comeback was Dixie volleyball – grit and heart," DSU Head Coach Robyn Felder said. "I am so proud of these girls for being fighters and gritting through this weekend to go 2-0. Like I said before, one game at a time, and we have two big ones at home next weekend. We celebrate tonight and prepare for [California Baptist] tomorrow."

Bird-Murphey hit a season-best .708 in the match and had no hitting errors in 24 attacks to lead the Storm, while sophomore Brette Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) added 14 kills and five total blocks. Jones finished with 12 kills and hit .391, and matched Anderson with five blocks. DSU hit .297 as a team, including a .419 clip in its set two win and .462 in the deciding fifth set.

Dixie State returns home for two matches, beginning with showdown with PacWest leading California Baptist this Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m., in the DSU Student Activities Center. DSU will also play host to Point Loma on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 12 noon.