OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (15-9/11-5 PacWest) will close the road portion of its 2016 regular season slate this weekend as the Trailblazers head to SoCal for two Pacific West Conference matches. DSU opens the trip Friday night, Nov. 11, with a match at California Baptist (18-6/13-3 PacWest) beginning at 8 p.m. (PT) in Riverside, followed with a Saturday matinée (Nov. 12) at Azusa Pacific (12-13/8-8 PacWest) in Azusa beginning at 3 p.m. (PT).
    Dixie State will then turn around and host BYU-Hawaii (6-18/4-11) this Monday night, Nov. 14, in the Seasiders final visit to the DSU Student Activities Center starting at 6 p.m.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 3-9 all-time vs. California Baptist, though the two teams have split the last six meetings overall, including a tough five-set Trailblazer loss to CBU this past Oct. 22 in the DSU SAC.
    Dixie State is 5-4 all-time against APU and has won five-straight overall vs. the Cougars after an 0-4 start in the series, which includes a three-set home sweep back on Oct. 8.
    Dixie State is 4-13 all-time in its series with BYU-Hawaii heading into the final match between the two sides as the Seasiders will discontinue their intercollegiate athletic program at end of the 2016-17 academic year. Earlier this season, the Trailblazers picked up their second-ever victory in Laie in a tough five-set match played on Oct. 14.

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 an 80-53 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 3-6 vs. CBU, 4-4 against Azusa Pacific and 2-5 all-time vs. BYU-H.

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 saw its modest three-match winning streak come to an end this past Nov. 5, when the Trailblazers fell at home by a 3-1 count to Dominican University in the DSU SAC. Playing without two of their starters, the Trailblazers split the first two sets vs. the Penguins, but DUC managed to post a pair of hard-fought two-point victories in sets three and four to escape with the victory.

DSU IN THE POLLS: Dixie State's loss to Dominican dropped the Trailblazers out of the NCAA West Region rankings with four regular season matches remaining. Alaska Anchorage remained in the top spot at No. 1 in the region, followed by Cal State San Bernardino, Simon Fraser, Western Washington, CBU, Northwest Nazarene, Central Washington, Cal State Los Angeles, Chico State and Dominican, which replaced DSU in the No. 10 slot in the poll.

QUICK HITS: Senior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) became Dixie State's all-time leading assists leader after she collected 47 dimes in the loss to Dominican ... Frei (2,328 assists) passed former DSU setter Shelby Sorenson, who amassed 2,326 assists in her three-year DSU career (2012-14) ... Frei, who broke DSU's single-season record (1,120) last season, has 826 (#6 on single-season list) assists this year ... Frei posted her fifth double-double of the year (assists/digs) with 11 digs in the Dominican match ... Frei is also sixth on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.257) and notched her 200th-career kill (202) in the DUC match.
    Senior outside hitter Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) moved up to seventh place on DSU's career kills list (593) after she posted a team-high 15 kills vs. Dominican, and she needs seven more kills to become the seventh player in DSU's D-II era to notch 600 career kills ... Daniel has 295 kills on the year, which leaves her three kills shy of tying her season-high (298) set last year, and she needs five more kills to become just the seventh player in DSU's NCAA-era to record 300-plus kills in a season ... Daniel's recent run has also moved her back into the top-10 on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.211; #9 all-time) ... Daniel has recorded double-doubles (kills/digs) in 11 of her last 12 starts and has a team-high 15 on the year ... Daniel also became the ninth DSU player in the program's NCAA-era to collect 500 career digs and she is currently fifth on the career list with 550 digs.
    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 is expected to return to the lineup this weekend after missing the last six matches due to injury, enters her final five regular season matches 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 win at NDNU (10/28) and has recorded double-digits in kills in 10 of 23 matches overall ... Duryea also notched her 400th-career kill at Hilo (10/17) ... in addition, she has 66 career services (36 this season; t-#3 on single-season list), which ranks her sixth on DSU's career aces list.
    Junior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) recorded DSU career-highs of 12 kills, six blocks and five digs vs. Dominican ... in all, Marshall has collected 36 combined kills over her last four matches ... sophomore libero Sidney Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) posted her sixth 20-plus digs match of the year with 25 vs. Dominican ... Brandon also tied a career high with three aces vs. DUC ... 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).
    Sophomore OH Kayla Chapman (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) threw down a career-high 12 kills vs. Dominican and notched a career-best with two assists and picked up her first collegiate ace in the AAU win (10/29) ... sophomore right-side hitter Shannon Sorensen (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS) collected 16 combined kills and nine total blocks on the NorCal trip, including a career highs of eight kills at AAU (10/29) and four total blocks at FPU (10/31) ... freshman OH Amanda Schultz (Springville, Utah/Springville HS) saw extended playing time in the Dominican match and responded with a career-high four kills.
    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 .198, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .175 clip through 24 matches this season ... DSU collected seven total service aces vs. Dominican and now has 147 on the year, compared to just 90 combined by its 24 opponents ... DSU is averaging 12.49 kills, 17.12 digs and 2.26 blocks per set through 86 total sets this season.

UP NEXT: Dixie State will wrap up the 2016 regular season at home vs. Point Loma on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 12 noon inside the DSU SAC. The match will also serve as "Senior Day" as seniors Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS), Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS), Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) and Megan Huddleston (Provo, Utah/Timpview HS) will play in their final home match.