(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (20-4/15-2 RMAC) will play for at least a share of the 2018 RMAC regular season title on Senior Night this Friday as the Trailblazers host in-state rival Westminster College (7-18/5-12 RMAC) inside the DSU SAC. First serve is set for 6 p.m.
    DSU will honor its four seniors, including Sid Brandon, Hannah Doonan, Malary Marshall and Shannon Sorensen, along with redshirt junior Kara Moore, prior to the match. Live stats and video links for Friday's match can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: Dixie State owns a 3-2 series lead against the Griffins and has won three-straight in the series overall, including a road sweep in Salt Lake City back on Oct. 2. In fact, all five results in the series have been three-set sweeps, which includes a 3-0 DSU win the last time the two teams met inside the DSU SAC in 2016 (11/18/15).

COACHING STAFF: Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002; 115-74 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 first time Dixie State had reached the 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: The Trailblazers opened their final homestand of the 2018 season with two victories last weekend and in the process, pulled into a tie atop the RMAC standings heading into Friday's regular season finale. DSU opened the homestand with its 10th sweep of the season in a 3-0 result vs. Colorado Christan on Friday, then won for the sixth-straight time in a hard-fought five-set thriller vs. RMAC power Regis on Saturday afternoon.

JUST WIN BABY: Dixie State's five-set win over Regis tied the program's NCAA-era record for regular season victories, while the Trailblazers' 20-4 start to this season is far and away the best start in program history.
    In 2014, Dixie State won 20 regular season games on its way to its second NCAA tournament appearance, during which DSU (22-9) won two matches and advanced to the West Regional final. The Trailblazers also won 19 matches in their Pacific West Conference championship season in 2015.
    In addition, DSU finished the road portion of its 2018 regular season with a 9-1 record, which is the best overall road mark in the program's NCAA era. Dixie State 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.

HOW SWEEP IT IS: The Trailblazers posted their 10th sweep of the season in last Friday's 3-0 win over CCU. The 10 sweeps this season are the third-most in the program's NCAA era. In 2016, Dixie State won 13 of its 17 matches in straight sets, while DSU claimed 11 of its 22 match wins in 2014 via the 3-0 sweep.

AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME: Dixie State enters Friday night's match tied with Colorado School of Mines atop the RMAC standings at 15-2, while Colorado Mesa (14-3) follows in third and MSU Denver stands in fourth (13-3). A DSU home win vs. Westminster coupled with a Mines home loss to UC-Colorado Springs will give the Blazers the outright title and No. 1 seed in the upcoming RMAC tournament. However if both teams win, Mines will clinch the top seed by virtue of its 3-2 home win over DSU earlier this season (9/28).
    In all, seven of the eight RMAC tournament bids have been clinched, while seeding for the tourney will not be settled until the final point is scored on Friday night.
    The 2018 RMAC Tournament will be held next week, beginning 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 EARNS FOURTH RMAC DPOW AWARD: Junior MB/RS Lauren Gammell was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season on Monday after another stellar weekend of play.
    Gammell tallied a match-high six block assists and six kills in the three-set sweep of Colorado Christian on Friday, including five block assists in the third set. Two of Gammell's five blocks in the third frame came on the final two points of the night to lift DSU to a 30-28 match-clinching win.
    The junior, who is now the NCAA Division II leader in both total blocks (143) and blocks per set (1.59), followed that effort by tying her DSU's single-match total blocks and block assists records with 11 in DSU's thrilling five-set win over Regis on Saturday. Three of her 11 block assists came in DSU's final 6-3 run, including the final point of the night to clinch to victory. She also became DSU's career leader in block assists (248) and vaulted to third place in career total blocks (269) in the win.

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 on Oct. 20. 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).  
    Gammell 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 tallied a match-high 15 kills and hit .520 over the four sets, and junior To'a Faleao-Baich hit an even .500 and registered a career-high tying 13 kills.

TEAM NOTES: Dixie State moved up to fourth in the latest NCAA South Central Regional rankings released on Wednesday, and the Trailblazers received votes in this week's AVCA D-II Coaches Top-25 poll.
    Treanor posted her team-high ninth double-double of the season in the Regis win as she went for a co-game high 16 kills and 11 assists, and for good measure she tallied seven digs and three block assists ... Treanor also filled the stat sheet to the tune of nine kills, eight assists, six digs and three total blocks in the CCU win ... Treanor, who was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (9/17), leads the team in kills (239, 2.91 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 has been on a hitting tear over her last 13 games to the tune of a .348 clip and 7.0 kills per match, including a .565 attack percentage with a career-high tying 13 kills and no errors at CSU-Pueblo (10/19) ... Marshall also hit .538 with eight kills in the CCU win last Friday ... Marshall's recent stretch has helped pad her DSU record .315 career attack percentage ... additionally, Marshall collected 10 block assists (plus one solo block) last weekend to move into seventh-place on DSU's career block assists list (149), while she is tied for eighth-place in career solo blocks (15) and is ninth in career blocks (159).
    Sophomore setter Jordyn Nelson recorded her 1,000th-career assist in the win at NMHU (10/20) 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 22.5 assists in DSU's two wins last weekend, also notched her third double-double of the year with 26 dimes and 10 digs in the Regis win on Saturday ... junior setter Kara Moore recorded her 500th-career assist with her first dime in the CCU match.   
    Senior L Sid Brandon (1,340 digs - #3 all-time) has collected 10 or more digs in 23 of 24 matches this season ... the senior also tallied her second kill of the season (and sixth of her career) to go with 24 digs at CSU-Pueblo (10/19) ... 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.   
    Faleao-Baich averaged 11.0 kills per match last weekend, including a new career-high 16 kills to go with five total blocks (one solo) vs. Regis last Saturday ... Faleao-Baich also tallied six kills and four block assists in the CCU win.  
    Senior Hannah Doonan recorded her sixth AND seventh double-doubles of the year in both wins last weekend, starting with an 11-kill, 11-dig effort vs. CCU ... Doonan then followed that up with 11 more kills and 18 digs, along with two aces, three assists and two block assists in the Regis win.     
    As a team DSU is hitting .226 (t-3rd in the RMAC), while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .124 clip (1st in the RMAC/T-17th in NCAA DII) ... DSU is averaging 12.82 kills and 15.63 digs per set.
    Dixie State currently leads the nation at the NCAA D-II level in blocks per set at 3.04, and leads the RMAC and is third-nationally in total blocks (273.5) ... DSU tallied a season-high 18.0 total team blocks in the Regis win, which tied for the second-most in a single match in the program's four-year era ... along with Gammell, Marshall and Faleao-Baich, senior RS Shannon Sorensen joined the block party as she racked up a career-high seven block assists vs. the Rangers ... 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 will open the 2018 RMAC Tournament with a quarterfinal match inside the DSU SAC this Tuesday night, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m., against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.