(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (16-4/11-2 RMAC) looks to remain near the top of the RMAC standings as the Trailblazers wrap up the road portion of their 2018 regular season schedule with a pair of matches this weekend.
    DSU, which enters the weekend tied for second place in the RMAC standings, begins the trip this Friday night at Colorado State-Pueblo (4-18/2-11 RMAC) at 7 p.m., inside CSUP Massari Arena in Pueblo. The Trailblazers then head south to Las Vegas, New Mexico, for the road finale at New Mexico Highlands (6-15/4-9 RMAC) on Saturday at 6 p.m., at the NMHU John A. Wilson Complex.
    Live stats and video links for both matches this weekend can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State and CSU-Pueblo have split the previous four matches between the two sides, each having posted alternating wins. The ThunderWolves claimed the first-ever meeting with a 3-0 sweep (8/31/07) on a neutral court during the 2007 season, while DSU returned the favor a year later in Pueblo by the same 3-0 count (8/29/08). Then during the 2010 season, the two sides each claimed five-set wins on consecutive days (3-2 CSU-P on 9/10/10; 3-2 DSU on 9/11/10) in a round-robin event played in Gunnison, Colo.  
    Saturday's match vs. NMHU will be just the second meeting between the Trailblazers and Cowgirls on the court, with DSU having won first match in five sets in NMHU's home arena on Sept. 13, 2013.

COACHING STAFF: Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002; 111-74 overall record) is in her seventh season at the helm of the DSU women's volleyball program as it heads into its first year of RMAC play. The two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year (2013/2015) led the Trailblazers to a 13-15 overall record last season which included an 11-9 mark (t-6th) in their final season of PacWest competition.
    In 2015, Felder led the Trailblazers to their first-ever Pacific West Conference title and the program's third-straight NCAA West Regional appearance. 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 only time Dixie State has reached 20-win plateau in the program's NCAA-era, and DSU also reached the 2014 NCAA West Regional final (Sweet 16).
    Felder is joined on the DSU sideline by second-year assistant coaches David Richards (BYU, 1983) and former DSU standout Makenzi Bird-Murphey (Dixie State, 2018).

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State pulled to within one game of the RMAC lead as the Trailblazers collected two big wins to open their final road swing. DSU completed a two-match season sweep of Colorado Mesa with a 3-1 triumph last Friday night in Grand Junction, which moved the Blazers back into second place in the conference standings.
    Dixie State would follow that win up with a 3-0 sweep of Western Colorado on the year this past Saturday.

THINGS TIGHTENING UP IN RMAC RACE: Dixie State enters this weekend in a two-way tie for second place in the RMAC standings with CMU at 11-2, though the Blazers own the tie-break due to their season sweep of the Mavericks. With five matches remaining in the regular season, both DSU and CMU are one match back of conference leader Colorado School of Mines (12-1), which lost at home to Colorado Christian, 3-1, last Friday night.
    MSU Denver stands in fourth place at 10-2, followed by Regis in fifth (10-3), UCCS (8-5) and Colorado Christian (8-5) in t-sixth, and Fort Lewis in (6-7) in eighth.
    The top-eight teams advance on to the 2018 RMAC Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal action at the home sites of the top-four seeds on Tuesday, Nov. 6. The semifinals and championship match will be held at the top-remaining seed on Nov. 9-10, with the winner earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA South Central Regionals.

GAMMELL RECORDS RMAC "HAT TRICK": Junior MB Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) earned her third RMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday for her performances in DSU's road sweep last weekend.
    The junior averaged 7.0 blocks (2.0 blocks/set) and 8.0 kills (2.3 kps), and posted a .314 attack percentage over the two matches. She broke DSU's single-match block assist record with 11 and posted her first career double-double with 10 kills in DSU's 3-1 victory at Colorado Mesa last Friday. The junior's 11 total blocks also matched the school single match record she tied earlier this season at home against CMU (9/15).
    Gammell who currently leads all of NCAA Division II in total blocks (t-1st - 119) and blocks per set (1.63), then followed that up with a six-kill, three-block effort in a three-game sweep at Western Colorado this past Saturday night.
    Gammell has recorded five or more blocks in 12 of 18 matches this season and needs only 15 more block assists (224) to become DSU's career leader in that category.

TEAM NOTES: Sophomore right side hitter Megan Treanor (Salem, Utah/Salem Hills HS) posted her team-high seventh double-double of the season with 14 kills and career-high 28 assists, along with seven digs, at Colorado School of Mines (9/28) ... Treanor, who was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (9/17), leads the team in kills (195, 3.00 k/s) and has enough attacks to now qualify to be ranked on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.253, 9th).
    Senior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) has been on a hitting tear over her last nine games to the tune of a .320 clip and 6.9 kills per match, including a .409 attack percentage with a career-high 13 kills at Mines (9/28), followed by a .458 night with 13 more kills at Westminster (10/2) ... Marshall also hit .417 with six kills at Western Colorado last Saturday ... Marshall's recent stretch has helped pad her DSU record .306 career attack percentage ... additionally, Marshall collected seven block assists on the road last weekend to move into 10th-place on DSU's career blocks list (139), while she is tied for 10th-place on DSU's career solo block list (14) and needs three more block assists for 10th on that career list.
    Sophomore setter Jordyn Nelson (Phoenix, Ariz./Greenway HS) recorded a career-high four kills vs. CMU (9/15) and dished out a career-best 37 assists in the win at UCCS (9/29) ... Nelson, who averaged 21.5 assists in DSU's two wins last weekend, also notched her second double-double of the year with 16 dimes and a season-high 12 digs at Westminster (10/2).
    Senior L Sid Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) (1,303 digs) collected her 1,300th career dig (#3 all-time) during the third set of DSU's sweep at Western Colorado last Saturday ... Brandon did see her streak of double-digit dig matches stopped at 22-straight after "only" nine digs in the Westminster win (10/2), and the senior has collected 10 or more digs in 19 of 20 matches this season overall.
    Junior MB/OH To'a Faleao-Baich (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) averaged 8.5 kills per match last weekend, including a co-game high 10 kills in the win at CMU ... Faleao-Baich also picked up her 26th ace of the season and currently co-leads the RMAC in aces and aces per set (0.38) ... Faleao-Baich notched her first Trailblazer double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs at UCCS (9/29) and posted a career-high seven blocks to go with 12 kills and six digs at Colorado School of Mines (9/28).
     Senior OH Hannah Doonan (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS) recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 10 kills and 17 digs at CMU last Friday ... freshman Hailee Oviatt-Devallier made her first collegiate start a memorable last Saturday at Western Colorado, against which she hit .667 with a career-high nine kills and with two blocks (one solo).  
    Dixie State's 16-4 start is the best overall start through 20 games in the program's NCAA era ... DSU hit .430 against Adams State (9/22), which wound up as the second-highest single-match percentage in the program's four-year era, and was the first time Dixie State had hit .400 or better in a match in nearly three full seasons (.402 at Holy Names; 10/23/15) ... the DSU match record for hitting percentage is .440 set vs. Molloy College during the 2015 season (9/5/15) ... DSU posted a single-set season-high .567 attack percentage in the opening frame at CMU last Friday, which bested the previous mark of .538 posted in the fifth set of DSU's five-set win at Northwest Nazarene (8/24).
    As a team DSU is hitting .215 (#5 in the RMAC), while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .121 clip (T-1st in the RMAC/T-18th in NCAA DII) ... DSU also leads the RMAC in services aces/set (1.55) and is t-second overall with 113 aces, including a combined nine aces last weekend.
    DSU is averaging 12.78 kills and 15.77 digs per set ... Dixie State currently leads the nation at the NCAA D-II level in blocks per set at 3.09, and leads the RMAC and is second-nationally in total blocks (225.5) ... DSU opened last Friday's CMU match with 10-straight points, the first three of which, and five of seven overall, came on the defensive side on blocked Maverick attacks.

UP NEXT: Dixie State concludes the 2018 regular season with a three-match homestand, starting with a date vs. Colorado Christian on Friday, Oct. 26. DSU will also play host to Regis on Saturday, Oct. 27.