Dixie State fell to 0-4 to open the 2017 season after the Trailblazers dropped a pair of matches in the final day of the Cal State Monterey Bay/Spring Hill Suites Otter Classic Saturday at the CSUMB Kelp Bed. DSU came up of the short end of a hard-fought 3-1 decision to Cal Poly Pomona in the morning, and closed tourney play with a 3-1 loss to Northwest Nazarene later in the day.

In the opener against CPP, the Trailblazers got off to a good start as DSU scored the first three points of the match. The Broncos pulled even at 4-4 and took the lead for good at 7-6 on their way to a 25-18 set one win. Dixie State bounced back in a big way in the second stanza as the Trailblazers broke a 5-5 tie with a 7-1 run and led by as many as seven points before settling for a 25-21 win to knot the match at a set apiece. The set win was DSU's first of the year after being shut out in its first two matches on Friday.

Cal Poly Pomona reclaimed the match lead after taking set three, 25-16, but again Dixie State would answer in game four with an 11-4 spurt that turned an 8-8 tie into a 19-12 Trailblazer lead. However the Broncos had other ideas as CPP rallied with an 11-4 run of its own to eventually pull even at 23-23. Cal Poly Pomona then completed the rally by scoring three of the final four points of the stanza to claim a 26-24 win to end the match.

Sophomore right side hitter Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) threw down a career-high 11 kills and posted .450 hitting percentage to lead the Trailblazers. Senior RS Brette Barney (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) added eight kills and junior Kayla Chapman (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) finished with seven kills and co-led DSU with six total blocks. DSU hit .164 in the match and had 45 kills over the four sets.

In the finale against Northwest Nazarene, the Trailblazers fell into an early 6-1 first-set hole, but DSU managed to chip away at the deficit and would eventually take the lead at 16-15 after a Shannon Sorensen (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS) kill. NNU wrestled the lead back and looked as if it was in control of the frame with a 22-19 advantage, but Dixie State scored the final six points of the stanza and clinched a 1-0 match lead after back-to-back Kara Moore (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) services aces closed out the frame.

The Crusaders (4-0) squared the match at 1-1 with a 25-22 win in set two, then rolled to a 25-13 triumph in game three to take a 2-1 match lead. NNU led for most of the fourth set, though DSU had a shot to extend the match to a fifth game after the Trailblazers rallied to knot the score at 21-21, but the Crusaders closed out the match with a 4-1 spurt to end any chance of a DSU comeback.

Chapman, Gammell, Sorensen and junior Hannah Doonan (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS) each recorded eight kills in a balanced DSU attack, while junior libero Sid Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) collected a season-high 24 digs. DSU hit .197 for the match and finished with 45 kills overall.

Dixie State will wrap up the non-conference portion of the 2017 regular season slate next weekend as the Trailblazers travel to Ellensburg, Wash., for the annual D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase, hosted by Central Washington, on Sept. 7-9.