Freshman Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View HS) recorded a match-high 16 kills to help lead Dixie State's women's volleyball team to a three-set win over in-state foe Westminster College, 25-16, 25-23, 25-19, in a non-conference match Wednesday night at the DSU Student Activities Center.

The Storm jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead thanks to three early Duryea kills. Westminster chipped away at the deficit, clawing to within a point at 14-13, but the Storm responded with a 7-2 run, spurred by another Duryea kill and another spike from senior Makenzi Bird-Murphey (St. George, Utah/Snow Canyon HS), to extend the lead to 21-15. After a Griffin kill from Desiree Wickwar, DSU rattled off four-straight points on a pair of kills from sophomore Brette Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS), a Bird-Murphey ace, and a set-point kill from junior Delayne Daniel (American Fork, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) to go up 1-0 in the match.

Both teams battled point-for-point in set two, which featured two lead changes and six ties, before Dixie finally started to pull away, breaking an 11-11 deadlock with three-straight points to lead 14-11. DSU would not relinquish the lead the rest of the set as Daniel recorded four kills and junior Lindsay Jones (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) put home the Storm's final two points of the frame to extend the match lead at 2-0.

Dixie State never trailed in set three as the Storm used an 8-2 run to break a 7-7 en route to a 15-9 lead midway through the stanza. Westminster pulled to within three points on a couple of occasions, but DSU scored five of the match's final eight points to complete the sweep.

"We played OK tonight, but I keep telling the team that the season is not over," DSU Head Coach Robyn Felder said. "We may have the [PacWest] conference championship wrapped up, but I want to win our last game. It was good to play tonight to help us stay fresh, but we're better than we showed tonight. Hopefully we can play our best volleyball on Saturday."

After struggling through the three games in Hawai'i last weekend, Duryea rebounded to hit .452 in the match, while Daniel hit .414 to finish with 13 kills. Junior Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) posted her sixth double-double of the year with 36 assists and 12 digs, and senior Alex Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) had 17 digs to lead DSU defensively. Dixie State hit .303 as a team and recorded two total team blocks.

"I thought Taylor [Duryea] and Delayne [Daniel] both played really well on the outside tonight," Felder noted. "That's one position that's been a little inconsistent for us this year. It was good that they were playing well and taking big swings. We need our hitters firing on all cylinders in these future games."

Dixie State will close out the 2015 regular season at home this Saturday with its Pacific West Conference finale vs. Fresno Pacific at 12 noon inside the DSU Student Activities Center. The match will serve as the final tune up before DSU advances to its third-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which is slated to begin December 3.