(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (5-8/3-2 PacWest) closes out its three-match homestand this Friday night, Oct. 5,  when the Trailblazers welcome in Hawai'i Pacific (6-8/4-2 PacWest) to the DSU Student Activities Center. First serve is set for 6 p.m.
    Live stats/video links for Friday's home match can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: The Trailblazers are 10-8 all-time vs. Hawai'i Pacific and has won seven of their last eight meetings with the Sharks overall, including a come-from-behind 3-2 five-set win last month in Honolulu (9/22/17).

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 87-63 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 homestand in fine fashion as the Trailblazers posted a pair of 3-0 sweeps last weekend in the DSU SAC. DSU rolled to a 25-19/25-12/25-14 win over Holy Names this past Friday night, then turned right back around with a 25-14/25-22/25-19 triumph over Dominican last Saturday afternoon. The Trailblazer defense held HNU to an opponent season-low .031 hitting percentage en route to the straight-set win, while the offense shined in both matches as DSU hit .280 vs. HNU, then followed that up with a season-high .300 clip in the DUC win.

300 AND COUNTING....: Dixie State played in its 300th NCAA match this past Sept. 23, when the Trailblazers took the court vs. California Baptist. Through 304 matches, DSU has posted a 165-139 (.542) overall record in 11-plus seasons of four-year competition, which includes a 109-68 (.616) mark in PacWest play. Dixie State is 69-36 (.657) inside the DSU SAC, while the Trailblazers are 66-64 (.507) in true road games and 30-39 (.434) all-time in neutral site matches.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Dixie State made a little history in its comeback win over Central Washington this past Sept. 8, as for the second time in Head Coach Robyn Felder's tenure the Trailblazers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to post a victory.
    DSU dropped the opening two sets by a combined score of 50-26 and was trailing 17-8 in set three. However the Trailblazers stormed back with a 16-7 run to knot the match at 24-24 and would go on to win the frame, 27-25. Dixie State then tied the match at 2-2 with a 26-24 triumph in set four and bolted out to a commanding 10-2 lead in the decisive fifth set to silence the home crowd and take both the 15-9 set win and the match.
    The come-from-behind victory came exactly five years to the day (9/8/12) since the last time the Trailblazers rallied from a two-set deficit to pull out a victory. DSU last accomplished the feat in a five-set triumph over Adelphi (21-25/12-25/27-25/25-18/15-13) in Anchorage, Alaska, which was also Coach Felder's second-career win at DSU.

TEAM NOTES: Junior MB Kayla Chapman (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) went on a hitting tear last weekend as she averaged 9.5 kills and hit a combined .613 in both sweeps ... Chapman had eight kills in 14 attacks (.571 H%) with no errors vs. HNU, then followed that up by hitting .647 with 11 kills and no errors in 17 attacks vs. DUC ... in addition, she averaged 4.0 digs, including a career-high five digs vs. DUC, and 2.0 blocks in the two wins ... Chapman leads the team with a .310 hitting percentage, while her recent tear has moved her up to eighth on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.240).  
    Sophomore Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) collected a career-high 21 kills and hit .487 in DSU's last meeting vs. HPU (9/22) ... 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 has snuck into the top-10 in career hitting at No. 10 at .217.
    Junior OH Hannah Doonan (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS) posted her team-leading fourth double-double of the season in the HPU road win with a career-high tying 16 kills and 17 digs ... Doonan enters this Friday's match with a team-leading 105 kills and is second on the squad with 128 digs.  
    Freshman setter Jordyn Nelson (Phoenix, Ariz./Greenway HS) posted her third double-double of the year with 19 assists and 10 digs, and collected a career-high four aces, in the Dominican win ... Nelson has moved into eighth place on DSU's career assists list after just 13 matches (247), while sophomore setter Kara Moore (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) (169) 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 700-dig plateau with her second dig in the Chaminade match (9/23) ... Brandon now has 749 digs in two-plus seasons in a Trailblazer uniform.
    As a team DSU is hitting .184, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .210 clip through 13 matches this season ... DSU is averaging 11.88 kills, 15.71 digs and 1.76 blocks per set overall.

UP NEXT: Dixie State heads back out on the road for a four-match PacWest Bay Area swing, beginning with a match at Notre Dame de Namur on Oct. 11. DSU will also play at Holy Names (Oct. 13) and at Dominican (Oct. 14), before closing the trip at Academy of Art on Oct. 16.