(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (8-11/6-5 PacWest) concludes its homestand with two Pacific West Conference matches this week as part of DSU Homecoming Week festivities. The Trailblazers host Fresno Pacific (9-12/7-5 PacWest) on Thursday, Oct. 26, and PacWest newcomer Biola (14-5/8-3 PacWest) on Saturday, Oct. 28. Both matches will be played in the DSU Student Activities Center beginning both nights at 6 p.m.
    Live stats/video links for both matches can be HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: Dixie State is 4-2 all-time vs. Fresno Pacific, though both Trailblazer losses to the Sunbirds in the series have come inside the DSU SAC (1-3 in 2012 and 2-3 in 2015). Last season, the Trailblazers recorded a Halloween 3-0 sweep on FPU's home court.  
    Saturday's match vs. Biola will be the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Eagles on the court.

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 90-66 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 opened its three-match homestand on a sour note as the Trailblazers dropped a hard-fought five-setter to Point Loma last Saturday afternoon. DSU lost despite outhitting the Sea Lions by a .149-.065 count, while the DSU defense broke a single-match record with 34 block assists and finished with the third-highest number of total blocks in a match (17.0) in the program's NCAA era.

TEAM NOTES: Junior MB Kayla Chapman (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) has been on a hitting tear over her last eight matches as she has averaged 8.5 kills and hit .407 overall with just 11 attack errors in 140 total attempts ... Chapman threw down a career-high 13 kills in the PLNU match and finished with a career-best seven total blocks and five digs ... Chapman has 138 kills on the year and leads the team with a .323 hitting percentage, while her recent tear has vaulted her up to seventh on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.2598).
    Sophomore RS Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) led Dixie State's block party vs. Point Loma as she tied DSU's single-match record with 10 block assists to go with four kills and two digs ... Gammell added her name next to former DSU standout Mariesa Nielson, who collected 10 block assists vs. Hawai'i Pacific back in the 2007 season ... Gammell averaged nearly 10 kills per match during DSU's Bay Area road trip two weeks ago, including a game-high 12 in the HNU win (10/13) and 11 more the next night at Dominican (10/14) ... Gammell leads the team with 149 kills and is hitting .245 on the season, while she has sneaked into the top-10 in career hitting at No. 10 at .219.
    Senior RS Brette Barney (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) (133 total blocks) moved into 10th place on DSU's career blocks list after she collected five total blocks in the PLNU match ... Barney also added eight kills and three digs to her ledger in that home start.
    Freshman OH Kaycee Adams (Syracuse, Utah/Syracuse HS) also posted career-highs of 10 kills and five total blocks vs. PLNU, while junior OH Hannah Doonan (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS) notched her fifth double-double of the year with 11 kills and 18 digs vs. the Sea Lions ... junior RS Shannon Sorenson just missed becoming the fourth Trailblazer to record double digits in kills vs. PLNU as she finished with nine kills along with four total blocks and three digs.
    Freshman setter Jordyn Nelson (Phoenix, Ariz./Greenway HS) posted her team-best sixth double-double of the year in the PLNU match with 26 assists and 10 digs ... Nelson (348) currently stands in eighth place on DSU's career assists list after just 19 matches, while sophomore setter Kara Moore (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) (246) is currently ninth overall after she recorded her second double-double of the year with a 16 assist/11 dig outing vs. the Sea Lions.
    Junior libero Sid Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) collected a career-high 31 digs in the PLNU match and now has 860 career digs to her credit, which ranks her fourth on DSU's career list.
    DSU's 17.0 total blocks vs. PLNU were the most since the Trailblazers combined for 15.0 blocks in a win over Holy Names last season (9/24/16) ... DSU lost the Point Loma despite outhitting the Sea Lions, .149-.065 ... the last time the Trailblazers outhit an opponent and lost was in a five-set thriller at Alaska-Anchorage in the first round of the 2015 NCAA West Regional (.144-.133; 12/4).
    Dixie State hit a season-high .370 in a win at Academy of Art (10/16), 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 Holy Names to opponent season-lows of 18 total kills and an -.023 hitting percentage in the Trailblazers' three-set win (10/13) ... 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 .192, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .179 clip through 19 matches this season ... DSU is averaging 11.78 kills, 16.04 digs and 2.03 blocks per set.

UP NEXT: Dixie State heads to southern California for its penultimate road trip of the 2017 regular season next weekend. The Trailblazers open the trip at nationally-ranked California Baptist on Friday, Nov. 3, followed by a return match at Point Loma on Saturday, Nov. 4.