(Game Notes - PDF)

After playing its first 10 matches of the 2015 season on the road, Dixie State (3-7/0-2 PacWest) will finally get to play in front of its home fans as the Storm opens a seven-match homestand against three Pacific West Conference foes this week. The homestand begins with a pair of games during Homecoming Week, starting with a date vs. Notre Dame de Namur (5-5/1-0 PacWest) on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 6 p.m., followed by a match vs. Holy Names (1-9/0-2 PacWest) on Homecoming Saturday, Sept. 26, at 12 noon. Dixie State will then close out the first month of the season against Concordia (4-7/0-2 PacWest) on Monday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. All three matches will be played in the DSU Student Activities Center (Old Gym).

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 18-2 all-time against NDNU, including an 11-0 mark at home, and has won 16-straight in the series overall since splitting the first four matches with the Argonauts. The Storm is 3-1 in its brief series with Holy Names and has won three-straight matches with the Hawks, though DSU's lone loss to HNU did come in St. George in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Monday's match vs. Concordia will be the first-ever meeting between the Storm and Eagles on the volleyball court.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002) is in her fourth season on the Storm bench. Felder has posted a 49-40 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) 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: It took nine matches but DSU played its first five-set match of the year last Friday at California Baptist ... trailing 0-2 in the match, the Storm fought back to force a decisive fifth game with consecutive 26-24 wins in sets three and four, however the Lancers proved to be too tough as CBU won the decisive fifth set by a 15-11 count ... sophomore Brette Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) registered a career-high 17 kills in the match, while junior Delayne Daniel (American Fork, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) notched her fourth-straight double-double with a career-best 14 digs and 10 kills, and junior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) finished with career-highs of 45 assists and 14 digs ... freshman Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View HS) was DSU's PacWest Freshman of the Week nominee after she talllied a career-high 10 kills at CBU, followed by a team-high seven kills at Point Loma ... Duryea also notched career-highs with three blocks (two solo) and nine digs at PLNU ... Daniel saw her four-match double-double streak end at PLNU as she was held to just six kills with four digs ... Senior Alex Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) recorded 28 total digs last week, including a team-high 17 digs at CBU ... A. Anderson now has 1,311 digs for her career (#2 all-time) and stands just 487 digs shy of becoming DSU's career digs leader ... A. Anderson also had a career-high six assists at CBU ... Sophomore Jaclyn Condie (Cottonwood Heights, Utah/Brighton HS) and freshman Emma Tenney (Heber, Ariz./Snowflake HS) also got into the digs act over the weekend ... Condie had a career-high eight digs at CBU and Tenney picked up a career-best six digs at PLNU ... Junior Lindsay Jones (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) posted a .263 hitting percentage for the week, including a .308 clip at CBU ... Jones' school-record career hitting percentage now stands at an even .300 ... Jones also enters the week ranked 76th-nationally in blocks per set (1.06 bps).

As a team Dixie State is ranked 56th in blocks per set (2.10 bps), 74th-nationally in hitting percentage (.215) and 120th in kills per set (12.20 kps).

HEAD COACH ROBYN FELDER ON THE STORM: ?"We are so ready to play at home. It has been a long month away from home and we are excited to be back in our gym with our home crowd. We have learned a lot throughout the preseason and I feel confident we will respond and get back on track. We all need to step up to this challenge and show what Dixie volleyball is all about."

UP NEXT: Dixie State continues its homestand with a pair of PacWest matches next week, starting with a date vs. Azusa Pacific on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 12 noon. DSU will also play host to Chaminade on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m.