GAME NOTES (PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State's volleyball team (3-5/0-0 PacWest) concludes its season-long 10-match road swing and opens up Pacific West Conference play this weekend as the Storm heads back to southern California for two matches. Dixie State will face a strong test as it begins the league slate against the top-two teams in the PacWest preseason rankings, starting with a match at California Baptist (7-1/0-0 PacWest) Friday night at 7 p.m. (PT), inside Van Dyne Gym on campus in Riverside. The Storm will close the trip Saturday afternoon at #24 Point Loma at 1:30 p.m. (PT), at Golden Gymnasium on campus in San Diego.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 2-7 all-time vs. California Baptist, including a split of two matches last season. The Storm will be looking for their first-ever win in Riverside as the Lancers have protected their home court in only surrendering one lost set in the four previous matches played in Van Dyne Gym. DSU is 3-2 in its brief series with Point Loma, which includes a 3-1 victory in the only meeting between the Storm and Sea Lions last year in St. George. Dixie State is 1-1 in two previous trips to Golden Gymnasium.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002) is in her fourth season on the Storm bench. Felder has posted a 49-38 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), Brita Jensen (second 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: Junior Delayne Daniel (American Fork, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) was DSU's PacWest POW nominee after she posted three double-doubles and led the team in kills in all four matches last weekend at the PacWest/GNAC Crossover ... Daniel had 17 kills, 10 digs and five blocks in DSU's win vs. Northwest Nazarene, followed by a 13-kill/10-dig performance at Central Washington, and a 12-kill (.357 hitting %), 10-dig effort with two service aces vs. Alaska-Anchorage ... Senior Alex Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) recorded 45 total digs last week, highlighted by a 18-dig performance at CWU, and now has 1,238 digs for her career (#2 all-time) ... Anderson now sits just 516 digs shy of becoming DSU's career digs leader ... Junior Lindsay Jones (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) posted a .236 hitting percentage for the week, which dropped her school record career percentage to .302 ... Jones did hit .429 in the opener vs. Western Washington ... Jones enters the week ranked 42nd-nationally in blocks per set (1.19 bps) ... Jones had 18 total blocks last week, including a career-high nine vs. NNU ... junior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) posted a season-high 44 assists at CWU and averaged 32.25 assists in the four matches at the Crossover ... Frei notched her first double-double of the year with 24 assists and a team-high 13 digs vs. Western Washington ... senior Makenzi Bird-Murphey (St. George, Utah/Snow Canyon HS) moved into third place on DSU's career blocks and block assists list with 10 total blocks last week.

As a team Dixie State is ranked 36th-nationally in hitting percentage (.241), 47th in blocks per set (2.20 bps) and 102nd in kills per set (12.44 kps) ... History is poised to repeat itself as the Storm open conference play this weekend with a 3-5 overall record ... last season DSU entered PacWest play at 3-5 and proceeded to win 19 of its last 23 matches to finish the year 22-9, including two wins at the NCAA West Regionals. 

HEAD COACH ROBYN FELDER ON THE STORM: "Preseason is great, it's definitely a time when we get to learn and grow and get better. Film is crucial at this time in really breaking down what we're doing and how to fix it. Now we shift our focus to [PacWest] teams where we can really scout them. We want teams to have to adjust to us. We want to play our game and make teams have to beat us.

"We are excited to head to Cal Baptist and Point Loma this weekend - top two teams in the conference preseason. They are great competition and their crowds are always crazy. We are looking forward to playing our best volleyball of the season."

UP NEXT: After 10 matches away from St. George, the Storm will open up a seven-match homestand, beginning with a pair of games during Homecoming Week. DSU will open the homestand vs. Notre Dame de Namur on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 6 p.m., followed by a match vs. Holy Names on Homecoming Saturday, Sept. 26, at 12 noon. Dixie State will then close out the first month of the season against Concordia on Monday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. All matches will be played in the DSU Student Activities Center (Old Gym).