(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (13-3/8-1 RMAC) returns home to the friendly confines of the DSU SAC for two RMAC contests this weekend, beginning with a match vs. Chadron State (5-12/3-5 RMAC) on Friday night beginning at 6 p.m. The Trailblazers will then quickly turn around to square off against MSU Denver (10-6/6-2 RMAC) on Saturday afternoon 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: Friday night's match vs. Chadron State will be the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Eagles on the volleyball court.
    Meanwhile, Saturday's match vs. MSUD will be just the second game between the two sides. Last year, the Trailblazers dropped a 3-0 decision to the Roadrunners in the season opener for both teams in a neutral-site match played at Cal State Monterey Bay.

COACHING STAFF: Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002; 108-73 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).

HI, MY NAME IS....: After 11 years as a member of the Pacific West Conference, Dixie State embarks on its first season as full members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2018.
    The Trailblazers won one PacWest volleyball title (2015) over their conference membership and posted a 117-75 overall record (.609) in 192 league games. DSU won 10 or more PacWest matches in seven of those 11 campaigns, including a program-best 17 matches (17-3) in 2014.

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED SEVENTH IN THE RMAC IN 2018: Dixie State was voted to finish seventh by the RMAC coaches in the annual preseason poll released by the league on August 13.
    Defending RMAC co-champions No. 7 Regis and No. 20 Colorado School of Mines combined to collect all 16 first-place votes in the poll, with Regis garnering 15 first-place nods to top the poll with 225 points, while CSM earned the other first-place vote and finished with 208 points.
    MSU Denver wound up third in the poll with 181 points, followed by Colorado Christian (181 pts) in fourth, Colorado Mesa (173 pts) in fifth, Colorado-Colorado Springs (152 pts) in sixth, DSU (128 pts) in seventh, and Adams State (123 pts) rounded out the top half of the poll in eighth.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State went 2-1 on its recently completed three-match road trip. The trip got off to a sour start as the Trailblazers saw their eight-match RMAC win streaks stopped in a five-set thriller at current No. 22 Colorado School of Mines in a battle between the conference's final two undefeated teams last Friday.
    However DSU quickly rebounded with a solid 3-1 triumph at UCCS last Saturday, then posted a 3-0 sweep at in-state rival Westminster College this past Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.

IT'S NOT HOW YOU START BUT....: Dixie State's 13-3 start this season is the best start through 16 matches in the program's NCAA era. In 2016, DSU started its season 12-4 on its way to an 17-11 overall record. Prior to the 2016 season, DSU posted a pair of 11-5 starts in 2009 (finished 18-7) and in 2014, with that season ending with a four-year program record 22 wins (22-9) and a trip to the NCAA West Regional final (Sweet 16).

TEAM NOTES: Sophomore right side hitter Megan Treanor (Salem, Utah/Salem Hills HS) continued her solid play of late in the road trip opener at Mines as she posted her team-high seventh double-double with 14 kills and career-high 28 assists, along with seven digs ... Treanor, who did not play in both the UCCS/WC matches, had quite the weekend vs. Fort Lewis and Adams State as she averaged 13.0 kills, 8.0 assists, 3.0 digs and 3.0 blocks, and combined to hit .469 in the two wins ... Treanor threw down a match-high 12 kills with six assists and four blocks vs. FLC, then went for 14 kills and 10 assists in the ASU win.
    Treanor hit .667 in the ASU win with no hitting errors in 21 attacks to record the second-highest single-match hitting percentage in DSU's NCAA era ... Treanor, who was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (9/17), leads the team in kills (169) and has enough hitting attempts to now qualify to be ranked on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.262, 9th).
    As a team, DSU hit .430 against Adams State, 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).
    Senior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) has been on a hitting tear over the last five games to the tune of a .427 clip, including a .409 attack percentage with a career-high 13 kills at Mines, followed by a .458 night with 13 more kills at Westminster ... Marshall also hit .364 with six kills at UCCS and a combined .444 vs. both Fort Lewis (9/21) and Adams State (9/22) ... Marshall's recent tear has helped pad her DSU record .320 career attack percentage ... additionally, Marshall collected 11 block assists on the road trip and now stands 10 total blocks shy (127) of cracking DSU's career blocks list, while she is tied for 10th-place on DSU's career solo block list (14).
    Junior MB Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) tallied 16 more total blocks (2 solo) last week, including a match-high nine total blocks at Mines ... the RMAC's leading blocker and two-time RMAC Defensive POW honoree, collected six more block assists at UCCS and had one solo block at Westminster, and set a school single-match record with 11 total blocks vs. Colorado Mesa (9/15).
    Gammell has recorded five or more blocks in 10 of 16 matches this season and currently leads all of NCAA D-II in blocks per set at 1.58 bps, and she is tied for second-nationally in total blocks with 95 ... Gammell (221; #5 all-time) also became the sixth player in program history to reach the 200-block plateau, doing so vs. FLC (9/21) ... in addition, the junior MB is currently fifth all-time in block assists (202) and sixth in solo blocks (19).
    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 last Saturday ... Nelson also notched her second double-double of the year with 16 dimes and a season-high 12 digs at Westminster.
    Senior L Sid Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) (1,242 digs) became the third player in program history to collect 1,200-plus digs in the Mines match ... Brandon did see her streak of double-digit dig matches stopped at 22-straight after "only" nine digs in the Westminster win ... sophomore OH Sydney Johnson (Spokane, Wash./Central Valley HS) tied career highs with 14 kills, nine digs and two aces at Mines last Friday.  
    Junior MB/OH To'a Faleao-Baich (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) notched her first Trailblazer double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs at UCCS ... Faleao-Baich also posted a career-high seven blocks to go with 12 kills and six digs at Colorado School of Mines.
     Senior RS Shannon Sorensen (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS) has averaged 5.8 kills over her last eight matches, including eight kills with four blocks (one solo) at CSM ... senior OH Hannah Doonan (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS) recorded her second double-double of the year with 10 kills and 10 digs at Westminster, and hit .519 with a season-high 14 kills at UCCS ... freshman Miranda Marshall (Fairfield, Calif./Vanden HS) tallied a career-high five block assists and had two kills at UCCS, while two other freshmen posted career-highs at Westminster, including Hailee Oviatt-Devallier with three kills and two blocks, and Abbey Smith (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) with 11 digs.
    Through 16 matches, DSU is hitting .218 as a team, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .128 clip ... DSU is averaging 12.97 kills and 15.67 digs per set ... Dixie State is currently leads the nation at the NCAA D-II level in blocks/set at 3.07 and is fourth in the NCAA D-II ranks in total blocks (184.0).

UP NEXT: Dixie State closes the road portion of its 2018 regular season schedule with a four-match swing, beginning with games at Colorado Mesa on Friday, Oct. 12, followed by a date at Western State Colorado on Saturday, Oct. 13.