Dixie State saw its three-match winning streak come to an end on Senior Day as Fresno Pacific rallied from two sets down to defeat the Storm, 19-25, 18-25, 25-10, 25-19, 15-9, Saturday afternoon at the DSU Student Activities Center. With the loss DSU closed the 2015 regular season at 19-10, 15-5 in Pacific West Conference play, while the Sunbirds wrapped up their season with a nine-match winning streak to finish at 13-12, 13-7 in the league standings.

The Storm broke a 13-13 tie midway through the first set with a quick 6-1 spurt, fueled by a four Sunbird errors and a pair of kills from junior Delayne Daniel (American Fork, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) and freshman Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View HS), to open a 19-14 lead. FPU came back with a point to cut the deficit to four, but the Storm put the set away with kills from Daniel, Duryea, senior Makenzi Bird-Murphey (St. George, Utah/Snow Canyon HS) and junior Lindsay Jones (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) in taking a 1-0 lead in the match.

DSU took control early in the second set as the Storm used a 13-4 run led by Daniel, who had four kills in the stretch, to open up a commanding 20-9 lead. However the Sunbirds did not fold as FPU scored nine of the next 15 points, and even though the Storm won the set, the momentum of the match seemed to have swung to the other bench.

Fresno Pacific came out on fire in the third set as the Sunbirds scored the first four points of the stanza before DSU could answer with a Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) kill to stop the run. DSU pulled to within 5-4 on a Duryea kill, but FPU responded by outscoring Dixie State 20-6 the rest of the way, including five-straight points to close out the set to cut the match deficit to 2-1. 

FPU jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead again in set four, but the Storm battled back with a 7-2 stretch to take a two-point lead at 8-6. The Sunbirds wrestled the lead back with five-straight points and would not relinquish it as FPU slowly pulled away for the six-point set win to force a deciding game five.

Both teams battled back and forth in the final frame, but FPU put any hope away of a DSU victory as the Sunbirds broke an 8-8 tie with a decisive 7-1 run to close out the match.

"It was disappointing to lose our final game at home," DSU Head Coach Robyn Felder said. "We fought hard but give all credit to Fresno Pacific, their defense was brilliant and they were making plays when we weren't. We've got to get better at putting the ball away and creating offense when we get the opportunities. We've got a lot of work to do before the NCAA tournament, and I'm excited to get after it."

Daniel recorded her team-high 11th double-double of the year with 12 kills and 19 digs, while Duryea and Bird-Murphey finished with 11 kills apiece. Frei also notched her seventh-straight double-double with 47 assists and 14 digs, while senior Alex Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) led the team with 25 digs in her final home match. After hitting a combined .271 in the first two sets, DSU struggled offensively as the Storm hit just .067, including a .042 clip in the fourth set, and finished with a .150 percentage for the match.

FPU's Morghan Williams recorded a match-high 17 kills to lead the Sunbird offense, which hit .409 in the fifth set to finish with a .209 hitting percentage for the match.

Dixie State, which won its first PacWest Conference championship last weekend and clinched the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, will find out its seeding and opponent as the 2015 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball tournament 64-team field will be announced this Monday evening, Nov. 23, at 5:30 p.m. (MT), online at NCAA.com. Please visit www.dixieathletics.com for complete NCAA tourney information.