(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (8-10/6-4 PacWest) returns home for another three-match Pacific West Conference homestand, which begins this Saturday against Point Loma (7-12/4-7 PacWest) at 12 noon inside the DSU SAC.
    Live stats/video links for Saturday's match can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: Dixie State is 6-3 all-time vs. Point Loma and has won three-straight overall against the Sea Lions, with two of those wins in this current stretch coming at home. DSU is 4-1 against PLNU inside the DSU SAC, which includes a 3-0 sweep in 2015 (11/7) and a 3-1 result last season (11/19).

COACHING STAFF: 2015 PacWest Coach of the Year Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002) is in her sixth season on the Trailblazer bench. Felder has posted a 90-65 overall record during her tenure, including a 17-11 record last season. In 2015, Felder led the Trailblazers to their first-ever Pacific West Conference title and the program's third-straight NCAA West Regional appearance. In addition, five Trailblazers earned all-PacWest honors and Felder was named Conference Coach of the Year. The season before that, she led DSU to its most successful season in the program's Division II era. The Trailblazers played to a 22-9 overall record, which marked the first time Dixie State had reached 20-plus wins in a season since its first year of NCAA play in 2006.
    Felder, who was also named PacWest Co-Coach of the Year in 2013, is joined on the bench by assistant coaches David Richards (first season), Nate Capps (third season), and former DSU standout Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) (student assistant, first season). 

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED THIRD IN PACWEST IN 2017: Heading into its final season of league play, Dixie State was picked to finish third by the Pacific West Conference coaches in the annual preseason poll released by the league on August 23.
    Defending PacWest champion Concordia-Irvine was the overwhelming choice to repeat in 2017 as the Eagles collected 10 out of a possible 14 first-place votes to top the poll with 189 points. California Baptist picked up three first-place nods to finish second with 158 points, followed by the Trailblazers in third with 158 points. Azusa Pacific (one first place vote) came in fourth in the poll with 151 points, while Point Loma (119 points) edged out Hawai'i Pacific (118 points) for fifth place, and Dominican (105 points) rounded out the top half of the poll in seventh.
    DSU, which has finished in the top-three in the PacWest each of the last four years, including the program's first conference crown in 2015, landed one player on the league's awards list. Junior Sid Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) was voted 2017 PacWest Preseason Libero of the Year and was named to the preseason all-PacWest team.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State came away with a split of four matches on its annual Bay Area road swing last week. The Trailblazers opened the trip with a 3-1 setback at Notre Dame de Namur (10/11) but managed to bounce back two nights later with a 3-0 sweep at Holy Names (10/13). DSU followed that with a hard-fought five-set loss at Dominican in match three (10/14), then closed the trip with a convincing 3-0 win at Academy of Art this past Monday afternoon.

TEAM NOTES: Junior MB Kayla Chapman (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) has been on a hitting tear over her last seven matches as she averaged 7.8 kills and hit .453 overall with just seven attack errors in 106 total attempts ... Chapman collected 10 kills at NDNU and another nine kills with a .421 H% at Dominican ... Chapman has 125 kills on the year and leads the team with a .330 hitting percentage, while her recent tear has vaulted her up to seventh on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.259).
    Sophomore RS Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) averaged nearly 10 kills per match during DSU's road trip, including a game-high 12 in the HNU win and 11 more the next night at Dominican ... Gammell posted a pair of career nights in her two starts against HPU in 2017 ... in DSU's road win back on Sept. 22, she collected a career-high 21 kills and hit .487 in DSU's 3-2 road win ... then in the home rematch (10/6), Gammell went for seven kills and a career-high nine block assists ... her nine block assists marked just the seventh time in program history that a player had achieved that feat, the last being former Trailblazer player Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS), who did it twice in 2015 (vs. Northwest Nazarene) and again in 2016 (vs. Fresno Pacific) ... Gammell's nine total blocks also tied for the sixth-most in a single-match in DSU's NCAA-era ... Gammell followed up that HPU defensive effort with eight total blocks in her next start at NDNU, including one solo stop.
    In addition, Gammell's 21 kills were the most recorded by a DSU player since former Trailblazer OH Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) collected 23 kills in a win at Point Loma last season (9/16/16) ... Gammell is hitting .257 on the season and she has sneaked into the top-10 in career hitting at No. 9 at .228.
    Senior RS Brette Barney (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) recorded a season-high 11 kills in the loss at Dominican ... Barney (128 blocks) also collected a combined five total blocks on the trip and needs just three more to crack into DSU's career total blocks top-10 list.
    Freshman setter Jordyn Nelson (Phoenix, Ariz./Greenway HS) posted her team-high fourth and fifth double-doubles of the year in the NDNU (18A/16D) and Dominican (18A/11D) matches ... Nelson currently stands in eighth place on DSU's career assists list after just 18 matches (322), while sophomore setter Kara Moore (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) (230) is currently ninth overall.
    Junior libero Sid Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) became just the fourth player in DSU's NCAA era to surpass the 800-dig plateau after collecting a combined 62 digs on the Bay Area road trip ... Brandon now has 829 digs in two-plus seasons in a Trailblazer uniform.
    Dixie State hit a season-high .370 in the Academy win, which was bolstered by a combined team effort that saw 10 Trailblazers account for all 38 DSU kills in the match ... Meanwhile, 11 different players collected at least one dig in the AAU match as Dixie State held the Urban Knights to a .048 H%.
    DSU's defense held HNU to opponent season-lows of 18 total kills and an -.023 hitting percentage over the three-set win ... DSU also collected a season-high 13 service aces, including a career-high four from Chapman and three more from Nelson ... the 13 aces were the fifth-most in a single match in the program's NCAA era and the second-most recorded in a three-set match overall.
    As a team DSU is hitting .195, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .189 clip through 18 matches this season ... DSU is averaging 11.89 kills, 15.82 digs and 1.93 blocks per set.

UP NEXT: Dixie State continues its homestand with two matches next week as part of DSU Homecoming Week festivities. The Trailblazers host Fresno Pacific on Thursday, Oct. 26, and PacWest newcomer Biola on Saturday, Oct. 28. Both matches will begin at 6 p.m.