(MATCH NOTES)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (11-4/7-0 PacWest) takes its nine-match winning streak to paradise this week as the Trailblazers head out for their annual Hawaiian road trip. The Pacific West Conference leaders will open the trip with its final road match at BYU-Hawaii in Laie on Friday, October 14, followed by a date at Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday, Oct. 15, in Honolulu. Dixie State will then wrap up the trip with a match at Hawai'i Hilo on Monday, Oct. 17.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 3-13 all-time in its series with BYU-Hawaii and will enter Friday's match looking for its second-ever win vs. the Seasiders in Laie, while the Trailblazers are 9-7 vs. Hawai'i Pacific and have won six-straight overall in the series. DSU is 9-8 against Hawai'i Hilo and have also won six-in-a-row vs. the Vulcans, including a 3-1 victory last month at the DSU SAC (9/26).

COACHING STAFF: 2015 PacWest Coach of the Year Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002) is in her fifth season on the Trailblazer bench. Felder has posted a 76-48 overall record during her tenure, including a 19-11 record last season in leading DSU to its first-ever Pacific West championship. In 2014, she led DSU to its best record in the program's NCAA Division II-era, a 22-9 overall mark, which included a trip to the NCAA West Region final (Sweet 16). Felder, who was also named PacWest Co-Coach of the Year in 2013, is joined on the bench by assistant coaches Liz Fisher (fifth season), Nate Capps (second season), and former DSU standout Makenzi Bird-Murphey (St. George, Utah/Snow Canyon HS) (student assistant, first season).  
    Felder is 1-5 vs. BYU-H, 6-0 vs. HPU and 6-1 vs. UHH.

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED SECOND IN PACWEST IN 2016: Defending PacWest champion Dixie State was picked to finish second in the conference's preseason coaches' poll released on August 25.
    California Baptist narrowly surpassed DSU in the poll, 189-180, as the Lancers received eight of the 14 possible first-place votes, while the Trailblazers collected five first places nods. Point Loma (158 points) and Concordia University Irvine (131) finished third and fourth, respectively, followed by Azusa Pacific (127) in fifth, Chaminade in sixth (121), and BYU-Hawaii (116) picked up one first place vote en route to seventh place to round out the top-half of the poll.
    Dixie State senior Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) was named PacWest Preseason Setter of the Year, while she and senior outside hitter Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) were voted onto the preseason all-PacWest team.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State pushed its winning streak to nine games and remained perfect in PacWest play after posting a 3-0 sweep of Azusa Pacific (25-16, 25-21, 25-17) last Saturday at the DSU SAC. Eight of the 11 Trailblazers that saw time registered at least one kill, led by Daniel who connected for a match-high 10 kills.

GARRETT EARNS PACWEST DEFENSIVE HONOR: For the second time in three weeks, senior middle blocker Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) was named PacWest Defender of the Week for her efforts in the Trailblazers two home victories last week.  
    Garrett, who earned her first honor of the year back on Sept. 26, collected seven block assists and a career-high seven digs, along with 13 kills, in DSU's 3-1 win over Notre Dame de Namur Oct. 3. Then last Saturday vs. Azusa Pacific, she recorded one solo block and five block assists in the Trailblazers' three-set sweep of the Cougars. Garrett enters play this week second in the PacWest in total blocks per set at 1.16 bps.

QUICK HITS: Senior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) is now just 32 assists away from becoming the second player in DSU's NCAA D-II era to amass 2,000 career assists ... Frei now has 1,968 career dimes, including 466 assists this season, which features a season-high 50 in the win at Point Loma (9/16) ... senior outside hitter Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) is in 10th-place on DSU's career kills list with 468 after she posted a pair of 12-kill outings vs. Chaminade (10/1) and NDNU (10/3), followed by her 10-kill outing vs. APU ... sophomore OH Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View HS) notched her first career double-double with season-highs of 19 kills and 14 digs (tied career high) vs. NDNU (10/3) ... Duryea also had 10 kills in the Chaminade match and has recorded double-digits in kills in six of 15 matches overall ... Duryea also has 54 career services (24 this season), which ranks her eighth on DSU's career aces list ... senior MB Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) leads the team with a .295 hitting percentage (min. 150  attacks) and she is currently DSU all-time career hitting percentage leader at .283 ... Garrett also became the fifth Trailblazer in the program's D-II era to record 200 or more total blocks and now stands in fourth place on DSU's career blocks list (213) and is fifth all-time in solo blocks (21).
    Junior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) recorded a DSU career-high 10 kills vs. NDNU as Dixie State had a season-high four Trailblazers notch double figures in kills (Duryea, Daniel and Garrett) ... sophomore libero Sidney Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) posted her third 20-plus digs match of the year with 24 vs. NDNU, which was two digs off her career-high of 26 set at home vs. Hawai'i Hilo (9/26) ... in all four DSU players posted double figures in digs vs. NDNU (Frei, Daniel, Duryea), which was a team season high, as were the 95 total team digs.
    Dixie State played a season-high 15 players in the Westminster match (9/28), and 14 players saw time in the Holy Names game (9/24) ... DSU hit a season-high .329 in the win at Concordia-Irvine (9/16), including a .400 clip in set two and a then-season-high .417 in set three ... DSU hit a season-best .500 in the opening set vs. HNU ... Dixie State's defense held HNU to a DSU school record -.082 hitting percentage, which marked just the fourth time in DSU's NCAA D-II era that it had forced a team into a negative hitting percentage ... the previous record was -.034 vs. Fort Lewis (9/9/11), while DSU forced two other opponents in 2014, including Chaminade (-.020; 10/13/14) and Fresno Pacific (-.020; 11/15/14).
    As a team DSU is hitting an even .200, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .156 clip through the midway point of the 2016 regular season ... DSU collected seven service aces vs. APU and has 99 on the year, compared to just 50 combined by its 15 opponents ... DSU is averaging 12.44 kills, 17.06 digs and 2.38 blocks per set through 15 matches this season.

HEAD COACH ROBYN FELDER ABOUT ON THE TRAILBLAZERS: "We are a third of the way through our conference season and heading into the toughest two weeks that we will have. The Hawai'i trip is going to be huge for us. We have prepared well for these teams and feel very confident going in. If we can do the small things like getting sleep, staying hydrated, and fueling right, I think it will make a huge difference for us.  We are looking forward to a great trip to Hawai'i and hoping to continue to improve and get better."

UP NEXT: Dixie State returns home to the DSU SAC for two key PacWest matches against teams looking directly up at the Trailblazers in the league standings. DSU opens in the brief homestand on Homecoming Saturday, Oct. 22, vs. second-place California Baptist at 6 p.m., and will quickly turnaround to face third-place Concordia-Irvine in a rare Sunday tilt on Oct. 23, at 12 noon.