(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (18-4/13-2 RMAC) begins their final homestand of the 2018 regular season this weekend inside the DSU SAC with a pair crucial conference matches as the Trailblazers look to remain in the chase for an RMAC championship.
    DSU, which enters the weekend in second place in the RMAC standings, opens the homestand against sixth-place Colorado Christian (12-12/10-5 RMAC) Friday night beginning at 6 p.m., followed by a showdown vs. t-third place Regis (17-8/12-3 RMAC) Saturday at 4 p.m.
    Live stats and video links for both matches this weekend can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: This weekend's matches will mark the first time that Dixie State will have faced both Colorado Christian and Regis on the volleyball court.

COACHING STAFF: Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002; 113-74 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 Murphey (Dixie State, 2018).

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State pushed its winning streak to four-straight and closed the road portion of its 2018 road schedule with a two-match sweep last weekend. The Trailblazers rallied from a 2-1 set deficit to escape with a five-set victory at Colorado State-Pueblo to open the trip last Friday. Then the next night at New Mexico Highlands, DSU broke the school's single-match attack percentage record (.491) on its way to a 3-1 triumph at New Mexico Highlands.

THINGS TIGHTENING UP IN RMAC RACE: Dixie State enters this weekend in solo second place in the RMAC standings at 13-2, one game back of conference leader Colorado School of Mines (14-1) with three regular season matches remaining. Colorado Mesa and Regis follow in third place with matching 12-3 league records, while MSU Denver stands in fifth at 11-3 and CCU is sixth at 10-5.
    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.

VIVA LAS VEGAS .... NEW MEXICO: Dixie State shattered the program's NCAA era single match attack percentage record by hitting .491 with 61 kills and just nine attack errors in 106 attempts in its 3-1 victory at New Mexico Highlands last Saturday night. The Blazers' performance bested the previous record of .440 set in a 3-0 sweep of Molloy College during the 2015 season (9/5/15).
    The Trailblazers were red hot in all three set wins as they hit .640 in the opening frame (25-10), followed by a .556 percentage in set two (25-9) and a .542 clip in the decisive fourth stanza (25-12). DSU's .640 percentage in the first set was also the second-highest single set percentage in program history (.667 in fifth set vs. Hawai'i Pacific; 10/2/07).  
    Junior MB Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) led the hit parade as she posted a career-best .800 attack percentage with 12 kills and no errors, though she fell five attacks shorts (min. 20) to qualify for the school's single-match record. Meanwhile, sophomore Megan Treanor (Salem, Utah/Salem Hills HS) tallied a match-high 15 kills and hit .520 over the four sets, and junior To'a Faleao-Baich (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) hit an even .500 and registered a career-high tying 13 kills.

TEAM NOTES: Dixie State is ranked fifth in the first NCAA South Central Regional rankings released on Wednesday, and the Trailblazers received votes in this week's AVCA D-II Coach Top-25 poll.
    Gammell continues to lead all of NCAA Division II in blocks per set (.154) and is fourth-nationally in total blocks (126) and blocks per set (1.63) ... Gammell (231) is also inching closer to a pair of career records as she needs only eight more block assists to move past current assistant coach Makenzi Murphey atop DSU's career list, while her 252 total blocks currently ranks her fourth all-time ...  Gammell 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 (10/12) ... Gammell's 11 total blocks also matched the school single match record she tied earlier this season at home against CMU (9/15) ... the three-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honoree has recorded five or more blocks in 12 of 22 matches this season.
    Treanor posted her team-high eighth double-double of the season with 21 assists and a career-best 12 digs in the five-set win at CSU-Pueblo ... Treanor, who was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (9/17), leads the team in kills (214, 2.89 k/s) and has enough attacks to now qualify to be ranked on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.250, 9th).
    Senior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) has been on a hitting tear over her last 11 games to the tune of a .346 clip and 7.1 kills per match, including a .565 attack percentage with a career-high tying 13 kills and no errors at CSU-Pueblo last Friday ... Marshall also hit .417 with six kills at Western Colorado (10/13) ... Marshall's recent stretch has helped pad her DSU record .313 career attack percentage ... additionally, Marshall collected nine block assists on the road last weekend to move into ninth-place on DSU's career block assists list (139), while she is tied for 10th-place in career solo blocks (14) and is 10th in career blocks (148).
    Sophomore setter Jordyn Nelson (Phoenix, Ariz./Greenway HS) recorded her 1,000th-career assist in the win at NMHU last Saturday and finished with 33 dimes in the four-set result ... Nelson tallied 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 26.0 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) (1,340 digs - #3 all-time) has collected 10 or more digs in 21 of 22 matches this season overall ... the senior also tallied her second kill of the season (and sixth of her career) to go with 24 digs at CSU-Pueblo last Friday ... in fact, DSU tallied a season-high 85 digs vs. the ThunderWolves, which marked the first time in nearly one calendar year since DSU had 80-plus digs in a match ... last season at Point Loma, DSU tallied 95 digs in a five-set win (10/21/17) ... freshman Hannah Waddell (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove HS) (13 digs) and senior Shannon Sorensen (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS) (five digs) also posted career-highs in digs against CSU-Pueblo ... Waddell also had nine digs at NMHU, while Sorensen tallied seven kills and four block assists vs. the Cowgirls.  
    Faleao-Baich averaged 10.5 kills per match last weekend, including her career-high tying 13 kills at NMHU and eight more at CSU-P.
    Doonan recorded her fifth double-double of the year with a career-high 18 kills and 15 digs at CSU-Pueblo last Friday ... Doonan just missed her sixth double-double at NMHU as she went for seven kills and 13 digs, along with a career-high tying three assists and two blocks.
    Freshman Hailee Oviatt-Devallier made her first collegiate start a memorable at Western Colorado (10/13), against which she hit .667 with a career-high nine kills and with two blocks (one solo).  
    Dixie State's 18-4 start is the best overall start through 22 games in the program's NCAA era, while its 9-1 road record this season is the best overall road mark in the program's NCAA era ... DSU also won nine road matches in 2014 (9-3) and has posted a winning road record in seven of its 13 seasons of four-year competition overall.
    As a team DSU is hitting .223 (#3 in the RMAC), while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .122 clip (1st in the RMAC/T-16th in NCAA DII) ... DSU is averaging 12.79 kills and 15.79 digs per set ... Dixie State currently leads the nation at the NCAA D-II level in blocks per set at 2.98, and leads the RMAC and is fourth-nationally in total blocks (244.5) ... DSU opened its four-set match victory at CMU (10/12) 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 wraps up the 2018 regular season at home against in-state rival Westminster College on Friday night, Nov. 2, at 6 p.m. DSU will honor its four seniors, including Sid Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS), Hannah Doonan (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS), Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) and Shannon Sorensen (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS), prior to first serve.