(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (15-8/11-4 PacWest) returns home to the DSU Student Activities Center for a key Pacific West Conference match against Dominican University (15-7/11-3 PacWest) Saturday at 12 noon.
    The Trailblazers begin the week in fifth place in the PacWest standings, one-half game behind the Penguins who sit alone in third place. In fact, the top-five teams in the conference are separated by just two games overall, with No. 25 Concordia-Irvine (13-2) leading the pack, followed by California Baptist (11-2) in second and Hawai'i Pacific (10-3) in fourth.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: Dixie State is 10-0 all-time against Dominican University, which includes a perfect 5-0 mark inside the DSU SAC and a 3-0 sweep the last time the two sides met last season in San Rafael, Calif. In all, eight of DSU's 10 victories in the series have been three-set sweeps.

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 80-52 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 5-0 all-time against Dominican.

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.

DSU IN THE POLLS: Dixie State did not receive any votes in the latest 2016 AVCA Division II Coaches' Poll, which was released on Monday. However, PacWest leader Concordia-Irvine is ranked No. 25 and California Baptist is receiving votes in the poll.
    The first 2016 NCAA West Region poll was released this Wednesday and DSU is ranked 10th in the region, five spots behind CBU which is ranked fifth. Alaska Anchorage was ranked No. 1 in the region, followed by Cal State San Bernardino, Western Washington, Simon Fraser, CBU, Northwest Nazarene, Cal State Los Angeles, Central Washington, Chico State at DSU.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State bounced back from its it longest losing skid of the season with three-straight victories on its NorCal road swing last week. In fact, the Trailblazers did not drop a set as they posted 3-0 wins at Notre Dame de Namur (10/28), Academy of Art (10/29) and Fresno Pacific (10/31).

QUICK HITS: Senior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) enters Saturday's match needing just 46 assists to pass 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 2,281 career dimes to her credit, including 779 (#8 on single-season list) assists this year ... Frei posted her fourth double-double of the year with 34 assists and 10 digs in the win at Academy of Art (10/29) ... Frei is also sixth on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.257) and needs just one more kill for 200 for her career.  
    Senior outside hitter Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) moved up to eighth place on DSU's career kills list (578) after combining for 44 kills on the NorCal trip, including a game-high 17 kills at FPU last Monday ... Daniel hit .333 on the NorCal trip, including a .400 clip with 12 kills and no errors in the win at AAU (10/29) ... Daniel's recent run moved her back into the top-10 on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.214; #9 all-time) ... Daniel also extended her double-double streak to 10-straight matches at NDNU and AAU, but saw that streak halted at FPU as she finished with "just" eight digs ... Daniel now has 14 double-doubles 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 seventh on the career list with 535 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 Saturday after missing the last five 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 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) ... Marshall also collected 24 combined kills on the NorCal trip, including nine in the win at NDNU (10/28) ... 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).
    Sophomore OH Kayla Chapman (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) threw down a career-high seven kills at NDNU (10/28) 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).
    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 .201, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .175 clip through 23 matches this season ... DSU collected 13 total service aces on the NorCal trip and has 140 on the year, compared to just 85 combined by its 23 opponents ... DSU is averaging 12.48 kills, 16.98 digs and 2.24 blocks per set through 83 total sets this season.

UP NEXT: Dixie State heads out on its final road trip of the 2016 regular season next weekend as the Trailblazers play at California Baptist on Friday, Nov. 11, followed by the road finale at Azusa Pacific on Saturday, Nov. 12.