Dixie State opened a crucial RMAC road trip with a big 3-1 victory at Colorado Mesa Friday night inside Brownson Arena.

The victory vaulted the Trailblazers (15-4/10-2 RMAC) into a three-way for second place in the RMAC standings with CMU (15-5/10-2 RMAC) and Regis (14-7/10-2 RMAC), one game back of conference leader Colorado School of Mines (17-3/11-1 RMAC), which dropped a 3-1 home decision to Colorado Christian earlier in the evening.

Playing in front of nearly 1,000 Maverick supporters, Dixie State sent an early message as the Trailblazers opened the match with a 10-0 run and led by as many at 12 points at 15-3 before settling for a 25-16 set one win. DSU rode that momentum into set two, where the Blazers trailed only twice and blew the stanza open with an 11-5 spurt that turned a 9-8 lead into a 20-13 bulge en route to a 25-21 triumph and a 2-0 match advantage.

The Mavericks avoided the sweep with a 25-17 win in set three, but Dixie State dashed any hope of a CMU comeback as the Trailblazers outscored Colorado Mesa 8-1 to open the decisive fourth set on their way to a 25-16 set win to close out the match.

Junior Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS), who is the NCAA D-II leader in blocks per set, led the way both on offense and defense for the Trailblazers as she posted her first double-double of the year with a co-game high 10 kills and a DSU single-match school record 11 block assists. Gammell's 11 total blocks also tied a DSU single match record, which coincidentally she matched earlier this season in a 3-1 home win over Colorado Mesa.

Senior Hannah Doonan (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS) notched her fourth double-double of the season, and third in her last four matches overall, with 10 kills and 17 digs, while junior To'a Faleao-Baich (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) collected 10 kills with six digs and six block assists. Sophomore Megan Treanor (Salem, Utah/Salem Hills HS) added seven kills, 12 assists, six digs and five blocks, and sophomore Jordyn Nelson (Phoenix, Ariz./Greenway HS) had 21 dimes and six digs.

As a team, Dixie State finished with 14.5 total blocks for the match, including seven blocks in the opening set. In fact, DSU scored the first three points of the match and five of the first seven points in its match-opening 10-0 run with blocked CMU attacks. The Blazers held CMU to a .072 attack percentage, while Dixie State connected for 44 kills and a .150 hitting percentage.

Dixie State will continue its road trip Saturday night at Western Colorado beginning at 6 p.m., in Paul Wright Gym in Gunnison.