(MATCH NOTES)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State's women's volleyball team (5-4/2-0 PacWest) returns home for five of its next six matches, beginning with a pair of Pacific West Conference games at the DSU Student Activities Center (SAC) over the next five days. The Trailblazers will host Holy Names (1-9/0-2 PacWest) this Saturday, Sept. 24, at 12 noon, followed by a match vs. Hawai'i Hilo (3-3/1-0 PacWest) on Monday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie is 5-1 all-time vs. Holy Names and has won five-straight overall vs. the Hawks in the series, including both matches last season. Meanwhile the DSU/Hilo series is tied at 8-8, though the Trailblazers have won five-straight vs. the Vulcans after Hilo won eight of the first 11 meetings between the two programs.

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 70-48 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 5-1 all-time vs. Holy Names and 5-1 against Hilo.

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: The Trailblazers opened PacWest play last weekend with a pair of big road victories in southern California. DSU opened the trip with a four-set victory at Point Loma in San Diego on Sept. 16, followed by a three-game sweep of previous unbeaten Concordia-Irvine on Sept. 17.

DANIEL EARNS PACWEST AND NATIONAL HONORS: Senior outside hitter Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) was named Sports Imports/AVCA Division II National Player of the Week on Tuesday for her efforts in leading the Trailblazers to two key road victories to open league play last weekend. Daniel, who also earned PacWest Player of the Week honors on Monday, is the first DSU volleyball player to earn the AVCA's national honor in the program's NCAA Division II era.
    Daniel finished with 38 total kills in the two matches (5.4 KPS/19.0 KPM), hit .368 overall, and collected 37 digs and four total blocks to lead DSU to the road sweep.
    She notched career-highs of 23 kills and 22 digs in DSU's four-set victory at Point Loma, then followed that up with game-highs of 15 kills and 13 digs, her fifth double-double of the year, in the straight-set win at CUI. Daniel enters play this week ranked sixth in the PacWest in kills per set (3.56).

QUICK HITS: Senior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) posted her first double-double of the year with a career-high tying 14 digs and a season-best 50 assists at Point Loma ... Frei now stands 14 assists shy of moving to No. 2 on DSU's career assists list and needs 22 more dimes to become just the second player in DSU's D-II era to amass 1,800 career assists, a feat she should reach this Saturday vs. HNU ... junior rightside hitter Brette Anderson (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) connected for a season-high 13 kills at PLNU ... sophomore OH Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View HS) served for three aces against both PLNU and CUI to pad her team lead with 17 aces through nine matches, which currently ranks her second in the PacWest ... senior MB Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) recorded a season-high eight total blocks, including two solo stops, in the win at CUI ... Garrett's eight blocks were one off her career high of nine set last vs. Northwest Nazarene in 2014 ... Garrett also hit .533 at PLNU and .273 at CUI to pad her DSU career-leading hitting percentage to .282.
    Sophomore libero Sidney Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) collected career-highs of 20 digs and five assists at PLNU, and she averaged 15.5 digs on the two-game trip ... junior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) recorded a DSU career-best five blocks at PLNU, while senior S/RS Megan Huddleston (Provo, Utah/Timpview HS) had career-highs of eight digs and two kills at PLNU.
    DSU hit a season-high .329 in the win at CUI, including a .400 clip in set two and a season-high .417 in set three ... as a team DSU is hitting .169, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .191 clip through the first nine matches of 2016 ... DSU collected 18 service aces in the two matches last weekend and have 64 on the year, compared to just 34 combined by its nine opponents ... DSU is averaging 12.00 kills, 16.38 digs and 2.03 blocks per set through nine matches this season.

HEAD COACH ROBYN FELDER ON THE TRAILBLAZERS: "After coming off a great weekend, we are playing with a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence. We have really become focused in this week and we are fine-tuning some of our offensive plays as well as working on our blocking. We are excited to play at home for the next few weeks and continue to compete at a high level."

UP NEXT: Dixie State will play its final non-conference regular season match on Wednesday, Sept. 28, when the Trailblazers head to Salt Lake City to face Westminster College. DSU will then return home for three-straight PacWest games, starting with a date vs. Chaminade on Saturday, Oct. 1, at 6 p.m., inside the DSU SAC.