(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (12-8/8-4 PacWest) looks to get back to its winning ways as the Trailblazers head to the Bay Area for a three-game road trip this weekend. The Trailblazers start the trip at Notre Dame de Namur (6-15/4-9 PacWest) in Belmont on Friday, Oct. 28, followed by a match at Academy of Art (6-14/4-7 PacWest) in San Francisco on Saturday, Oct. 29. DSU will close the trip with a Halloween match at Fresno Pacific (7-9/5-7 PacWest) on Monday, Oct. 31.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 20-2 all-time against NDNU and has won 18-straight overall in the series, including a 3-1 victory over the Argonauts (10/3) earlier this month in the DSU SAC.
    Dixie State owns a 9-3 series lead vs. Academy of Art and has won four-straight and five out of the last six overall vs. Urban Knights, including a 3-1 triumph at the DSU SAC last season (10/17).
    DSU is 3-2 in it brief series with FPU, with two of Trailblazers' three wins in the series coming on the road in Fresno. Meanwhile, both FPU victories over Dixie State have come on DSU's home court, including a 3-2 triumph in the 2015 regular season finale in St. George (11/21).

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 77-50 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 7-0 all-time against NDNU, 5-1 vs. AAU and 3-2 against FPU. 

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: After opening PacWest play with eight-straight victories, the Trailblazers have lost four-in-a-row, including two tough home setbacks last weekend inside the DSU SAC. Dixie State dropped a hard-fought five-set showdown vs. conference leader California Baptist last Saturday night. The Trailblazers held a 2-1 lead in the match, but the Lancers rallied to take the final two sets to claim the 3-2 win. DSU then came back for a rare Sunday home match vs. second-place Concordia-Irvine and after taking the first two sets by a combined four points (25-23, 27-25), the Eagles completed the 3-0 sweep of DSU with a 25-19 win in the decisive third set.

QUICK HITS: Senior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) enters the weekend just 160 assists away from passing former DSU setter Shelby Sorenson (2,326; 2012-14) for the top spot on Dixie State's career assists list ... Frei, who broke DSU's single-season record (1,120) last season, has 2,167 career dimes to her credit, including 665 (#9 on single-season list) assists this year ... Frei posted her third double-double of the year with 41 assists and a career-high tying 14 digs at Hilo (10/17) ... Frei is also sixth on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.247) and needs just nine more kills for 200 for her career.  
    Senior outside hitter Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) became the ninth player in DSU's four-year era to record 500 career kills, reaching the milestone in the Hilo match (10/17) ... Daniel now has 534 kills to her credit, which ranks her ninth on DSU's career list ... Daniel has also recorded double-doubles in eight-straight matches and has a team-high 12 on the season ... Daniel is also one dig away from 500 career digs (499, #9 all-time) and needs 30 digs to move up to seventh on DSU's career list.
    Senior middle blocker Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) threw down a career-high 17 kills in the loss at Hilo (10/17), which eclipsed her previous career-best of 16 kills set nearly two years ago in an NCAA West Regional win at Northwest Nazarene (11/20/14) ... Garrett, who missed both the CBU and CUI matches last week due to injury, enters play this weekend needing just 20 more kills to reach the 500-kill plateau  for her career ... Garrett also tied a career-high with nine total blocks in the win at BYU-H (10/14) ... Garrett, who is DSU's career hitting percentage leader (.281), became the fourth player to amass 200-plus block assists and has 204 for her career ... she is also fourth in school history in total blocks (226) and fifth all-time in solo blocks (22).
    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. Notre Dame de Namur (10/3) ... Duryea also had 14 kills in the loss vs. CBU (10/22) and has recorded double-digits in kills in eight of 20 matches overall ... Duryea also notched her 400th-career kill at Hilo (10/17) ... in addition, she has 61 career services (31 this season; #9 on single-season list), which ranks her t-seventh on DSU's career aces list.
    Junior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) recorded a DSU career-high 10 kills vs. NDNU (10/3) 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 fifth 20-plus digs match of the year with 21 vs. Concordia (10/23) ... four DSU players posted double figures in digs at Hilo Oct. 17 (Brandon, Frei, Daniel, junior Jaclyn Condie (Cottonwood Heights, Utah/Brighton HS)), which tied a season high ... DSU also had four players post double figures in digs (Frei, Daniel, Duryea, Brandon) as DSU collected a season-high 95 total team digs vs. NDNU (10/3).
    Junior RS Brette Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) collected 11 kills in the CBU match and had three more vs. CUI to give her 312 for her career ... senior RS Megan Huddleston (Provo, Utah/Timpview HS) notched a career-high three service aces at HPU (10/15), while freshman OH Amanda Schultz (Springville, Utah/Springville HS) recorded her first collegiate ace and collected a career-high six digs at Hilo (10/17) ... sophomore RS Shannon Sorensen (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS) threw down a career-best five kills at Hilo (10/17) ... sophomore RS Kayla Chapman (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) tied a career-high with six kills vs. CBU (10/22).
    Dixie State 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. Holy Names (9/24) ... 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 .191, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .177 clip through 20 matches this season ... DSU collected 12 total service aces vs. CBU and CUI and has 127 on the year, compared to just 76 combined by its 20 opponents ... DSU is averaging 12.12 kills, 16.62 digs and 2.27 blocks per set through 20 matches this season.

UP NEXT: Dixie State returns home to face Dominican University on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 12 noon inside the DSU Student Activities Center.