(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (5-2/0-0 RMAC) will make its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference debut this weekend as the Trailblazers head to the "Mount Rushmore State" for a pair of league matches. DSU opens RMAC play on Friday night at South Dakota Mines (2-6/0-0 RMAC) at 7 p.m. (MT), followed by a date at Black Hills State (3-4/0-0 RMAC) on Saturday beginning at 5:30 p.m. (MT).
    Live stats and video links for both matches this weekend can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Friday's match at SD Mines will mark the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Hardrockers on the volleyball court.
    Dixie State is 1-0 all-time vs. BHSU, with that lone meeting coming at the DSU SAC in a 3-0 sweep during the 2016 season (9/2/16).

COACHING STAFF: Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002; 100-72 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).

FELDER REACHES THE CENTURY MARK: Head Coach Robyn Felder collected her 100th-victory as Dixie State head coach in last Friday's 3-1 non-conference win over Colorado-Colorado Springs in the final game of night two of the DSU-hosted Desert Garden Inn by Wyndham Classic.
    Coach Felder has led DSU to double-digit win totals in each of the previous five season, and has won 17 or more matches in four of those five year, including an NCAA-era school record 22 wins in 2014.

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 closed its 2018 non-conference slate by taking three of four matches at the DSU/Desert Garden Inn by Wyndham Classic last weekend at the Burns Arena. The Trailblazers opened the tourney with a 3-1 victory over then-No. 18 Tarleton State, which was followed by a 3-0 sweep of Western New Mexico.
    The Blazers also claimed a 3-1 non-conference win vs. UCCS, but fell short of a tourney sweep as DSU dropped a 3-1 decision to Arkansas-Fort Smith in the final match of the tourney.

GAMMELL NAMED RMAC DEFENSIVE POW: Junior MB Lauren Gammell (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) was named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday for her performances at last weekend's DSU Classic. The award is the Trailblazers' first-ever RMAC weekly citation for volleyball.
    Gammell (6-2; Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) averaged 6.5 blocks (1.7 bps) a game in her four starts, including a career-high tying 10 total blocks (1 solo) in the Trailblazers' three-set sweep of Western New Mexico last Friday.
    The junior also tallied six block assists vs. TSU, seven total blocks against Arkansas-Fort Smith on Saturday, and three more vs. UCCS last Friday. Gammell anchored a DSU defensive unit that combined to limit its opponents to a .125 hitting percentage over the Blazers' four games of the tournament (15 total sets).
    Gammell's 26 total blocks also vaulted her into eighth on DSU's career blocks list (164), while the junior ranked second in the RMAC and 14th-nationally in total blocks (38), and she leads the RMAC and is ranked t-15th in the country in blocks/set (1.36 bps).

TEAM NOTES: Senior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) also got into the block party during the DSU Classic as she 18 total blocks in the four games with three solo stops, including two solo blocks in the WNMU win ... Marshall is third in the RMAC and t-32nd nationally in blocks/set (1.21), and is third in the conference and t-23rd in D-II in total blocks 34 ... Marshall also collected 10 kills in the UCCS win and tallied 24 kills over the four matches.
    Sophomore RS/S Megan Treanor (Salem, Utah/Salem Hills HS) tied a career-high with 19 kills to go with 17 assists in the TSU win, then followed that up with a career-high 25 dimes and six kills in the UCCS win ... Treanor then almost "messed around and got a triple-double" with 11 kills, 12 assists and nine digs (with five blocks) in the UAFS loss ... Treanor had quite the Trailblazer debut two weeks ago as she was named the Northwest Nazarene tournament MVP after she finished with 43 kills (14.3 kpm/3.31 kps), 25 assists and nine total blocks over the three matches ... Marshall joined Treanor on the NNU all-tourney team after she tallied 31 kills (2.38 kps) and 16 total blocks (1.23 bps) in the three matches.
    Senior L Sid Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) (1,113 digs) collected her 1,100th-career dig in the UAFS match and now needs 33 more digs to move into third place on DSU's career digs list ... junior MB/OH To'a Faleao-Baich (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS) has registered double-digits in kills in three of her first seven matches, including 10 kills vs. UAFS last Saturday ... senior OH Hannah Doonan (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS) tallied 10 kills in the TSU win and led DSU with 13 kills in the UCCS victory ... freshman L Abbey Smith (Prescott, Ariz./Prescott HS) collected a career-high 11 digs in the TSU win, while fellow freshman L Hannah Waddell (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove HS) had a career-best six digs vs. UCCS.
    Prior to DSU's come-from-behind win at NNU (8/24), the last time the Blazers rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win a match came at home last season vs. Fresno Pacific (10/26/17), while the last time the DSU achieved that feat on the road also came last year in a 3-2 win at Central Washington (9/8/17) ... Dixie State hit .538 in the decisive fifth set at NNU (7K/0E), which marked the first time the Trailblazers hit better than .500 in a set in nearly three full seasons ... During the 2015 campaign, DSU hit .533 in the first set of a 3-0 sweep at Holy Names (10/23/15) ... Through seven matches, DSU is hitting .197 as a team, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .136 clip ... DSU is averaging 11.68 kills and 16.11 digs per set ... Dixie State is currently ranked third-nationally in blocks/set at 2.91 and fourth in the NCAA D-II ranks in total blocks (81.5).

UP NEXT: Dixie State opens a four-match RMAC homestand next weekend vs. Western State Colorado on Friday, Sept. 14, followed by a match-up against Colorado Mesa on Saturday, Sept. 15.