(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (15-6/10-3 RMAC) wraps up the home portion of its 2019 regular season this weekend with a pair of important matches inside the DSU SAC. Winners of seven of their last eight overall, the Trailblazers begin the weekend against New Mexico Highlands (1-20/0-13 RMAC) on Friday night, before hosting Colorado State-Pueblo (10-12/7-6 RMAC) on Senior Night Saturday. Both matches are slated to start at 6 p.m.
    Prior to the start of Saturday's match, DSU will honor its two seniors, To'a Faleao and Lauren Gammell, in a special pregame ceremony. Live stats and streaming video links for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Friday's match vs. NMHU will be just the third meeting between the Trailblazers and Cowgirls on the court. Last season, DSU claimed a 3-1 win in Las Vegas, N.M. (10/20/18), while the Blazers won the first-ever match between the two sides in five sets in NMHU's home arena on Sept. 13, 2013.
    Dixie State owns 3-2 series edge vs. CSU-P, which includes a five-set triumph in Pueblo last season (10/19/18), this after the two teams split the previous four matches during the 2007 and 2010 seasons.

COACHING STAFF: 2018 RMAC Co-Head Coach of the Year Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002; 132-82 overall record) is in her eighth season at the helm of the Dixie State women's volleyball program. Last season, Felder led the Trailblazers to a NCAA era school-record tying 22 wins (22-6) and to a share of the RMAC regular season title (16-2) in the program's debut season in the league.
    A two-time Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year (2013/2015) honoree, Felder led the Trailblazers to their first-ever Pacific West Conference title and the program's third-straight NCAA West Regional appearance in 2015. The season before that, she led DSU to its most successful season in the program's Division II era as 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. That season also saw her squad reach the 2014 NCAA West Regional final (Sweet 16).
    Felder is joined on the DSU sideline by third-year assistant coaches David Richards (BYU, 1983) and former DSU standout Makenzi Murphey (Dixie State, 2018). In addition, Whitnee Tupe (fifth season, Dixie State, 2007) returns to Felder's staff after a three-year stint as an assistant at Snow College, and Camilla Hafoka (Oregon State, 2010) is in her first season on the Trailblazers' staff.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State opened its final homestand of the 2019 campaign with a pair of four-set Homecoming Weekend victories inside the DSU SAC. The Trailblazers began the weekend with a 3-1 victory over Western Colorado last Friday night, before taking sole possession of third place in the RMAC standings with a 3-1 triumph vs. Colorado Mesa this past Saturday night.

THINGS ARE TIGHTENING UP IN RMAC RACE: As mentioned above, Dixie State enters this weekend in sole possession third place in the RMAC standings at 10-3. DSU is one game ahead of CMU (9-4) and two games up on both preseason RMAC favorite Colorado School of Mines (8-5) and Black Hills State (8-5).
    League leading No. 10 Regis is two games ahead of DSU in the standings at 12-1, followed by MSU Denver in second place at 11-1 with three weeks left in the 2019 regular season.
    The top-eight teams will advance on to the 2019 RMAC Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal action at the home sites of the top-four seeds on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The semifinals and championship match will be held at the top-remaining seed on Nov. 22-23, with the winner earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA South Central Regionals.

LAST SEASON IN THE RMAC: After joining the RMAC in 2018, the 2019 season will mark the second and final season the Trailblazers will be a competing member of the conference. In 2020, Dixie State will begin its transition to NCAA Division I status and will become a new member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

GAMMELL BLOCKS HER WAY TO SECOND RMAC AWARD: Senior MB Lauren Gammell earned her second RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award of the season on Monday for her record-breaking performance in the Trailblazers' home sweep this past weekend.
    Gammell just missed a double-double to begin the homestand with match-highs of 11 kills (.625 H%) and eight block assists in DSU's four-set win over Western Colorado on Friday night.
    Then in Saturday's showdown vs. CMU, Gammell broke two school single-match records for total blocks (13) and block assists (12) and had eight kills (.353 H%) in the 3-1 triumph. After opening the match with consecutive blocks (one solo), she was part of six total blocks in DSU's match-clinching 14-2 run in the deciding fourth set.
    Gammell, who was also named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week back on Oct. 7, bested her previous total blocks record of 11, which she tied earlier this season in a win at Fort Lewis (10/5). Her 13 total blocks also marked the third time in two seasons of RMAC play that she collected at least 11 blocks against CMU.
    Gammell currently leads the RMAC and is tied for third-nationally at NCAA Division II level in blocks per set (1.40 bps), and she is the RMAC leader and ranked eighth in Division II in total blocks (109).  
    In addition, the senior now owns six program blocking records as she DSU's single season and career record holder for both block assists (148 and 361, respectively) and total blocks (162 and 397, respectively). 

MESSING AROUND AND GETTING TRIPLE-DOUBLES: Junior RS/S Megan Treanor came within one kill of posting her third triple-double of the season in DSU's 3-1 win at Chadron State (10/19), finishing with nine kills, 17 assists and 11 digs. The junior also tallied a team-high five total blocks (1 solo) for good measure.
    Treanor was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week (10/14) after the Blazers' home sweep UCCS (10/11) and Mines (10/12) after she averaged a triple-double in the two wins. She began the weekend with a match-high 13 kills, 17 assists, nine digs and five total blocks in the four-set win vs. UCCS, then recorded her second career triple-double with a co-team high 17 kills, 17 assists and a career-best 13 digs in the five-set win over Mines.
    Treanor posted DSU's first triple-double in the program's NCAA era earlier this year in a four-set win vs. Southwestern Oklahoma State (14K/18A/11D) back on Sept. 13. In addition, Treanor has recorded 20 double-doubles in 43 career matches at DSU.

ACE OF BASE: Senior MB/OH To'a Faleao had quite the Homecoming Weekend in her own right as she averaged 12.0 kills (3.0 kps), 4.5 aces (1.1 aps), 8.5 digs (2.1 dps) and 3.5 blocks (0.875 bps) in the two wins.
    The senior broke DSU's single-match record with seven services aces and tallied nine kills, seven digs and two block assists in the Blazers' four-set win over WCU on Friday. She then followed that up with a co-match high 15 kills (.371 H%) with two more aces, 10 digs and a season-high five total blocks against Mesa.
    Faleao has averaged 11.7 kills with 10.0 digs, 2.2 aces and 2.5 blocks in RMAC play, and has tallied at least seven kills in all 13 conference matches, highlighted by career-high 18 kills in the home win over SD Mines (9/21), and a co-team high 17 kills in the Mines win (10/12). Faleao is averaging a team-high 3.14 kps this season, which ranks her fifth in the RMAC and seventh currently on DSU's single-season list. She is also second in the RMAC and ranked 6th-nationally in aces per set (0.58 aps; 37 t-#2 on DSU's season list), and she is seventh in DSU program history in total aces (68).

READY, SET, GO: Junior setter Jordyn Nelson became the just the fourth player in the program's NCAA era to reach the 1,600 assist plateau, doing so during the first set of last Friday's win vs. WCU. Nelson now has 1,650 career dimes and needs 142 more to pass former DSU setter Anna Bullard (1,791, 2007-08) for third on DSU's all-time list.  
    Nelson, who tallied a career-high 50 assists in DSU's win at WCU (9/27) last month, also collected her team-leading ninth double-double of the season with 27 assists and 12 digs in the CMU win on Saturday, and she has posted double-doubles (assists/digs) in six of her last nine outings overall. While she has steadily climbed up the assist list, the junior has also moved into sixth place on DSU's career digs list (589).

TEAM NOTES: Freshman libero Mykenna Nelson has led the Trailblazer defense in digs in 19 of 21 matches this season, including a career-high 27 digs vs. UCCS (10/11), and a match-high 20 digs vs. WCU last Friday ... she also posted career highs of eight assists and three aces in the Westminster win (10/8) ... the freshman is currently fifth in the RMAC in digs/set at 4.77 dps (#7 on DSU's season list), and she moved into 10th-place on DSU's single season digs list (372) ... junior OH Sydney Johnson is averaging 7.3 kills during RMAC play, including a career-high 18 kills at Adams State (10/4), and 11 more kills in Saturday's win vs. CMU ... Johnson also connected for a career-high three aces vs. the Mavericks, this after she went for nine kills and six block assists vs. WCU the night before.  
    As a team DSU is hitting .212, while the Trailblazer defense leads the RMAC with a .138 OH% (t-31st nationally) through 21 matches this season, including holding WCU to an opponent-season low -.065 attack percentage last Friday ... DSU is averaging 12.72 kills and 16.09 digs a set, and is ranked fourth-nationally in blocks per set with an RMAC leading 2.58 bps average ... Dixie State also leads the RMAC and is ranked 15th-nationally in total blocks (201.5).
    Dixie State hit a combined .288 vs. both WCU/CMU with 96 combined kills to just 30 attack errors ... DSU limited WCU to only 20 kills last Friday, which tied an opponent season-low set last month vs. Black Hills State (9/20) ... DSU's defense held three total opponents to a negative hitting percentage this season (BHSU -.050; Pittsburg State  -.010, 9/13), this after not achieving that feat in nearly two seasons (-.023 vs. Holy Names; 10/13/17).
    Dixie State collected a season-high 101 digs in the five-set win at Western Colorado (9/27), which marked just the 10th time in program history that the Blazers reached triple figures in digs in the program's NCAA era ... DSU's 101 digs were the most in a match since DSU tallied a school-record 130 digs in a five-set home win over Dominican nearly six years to the day (9/30/13) during the 2013 season.
    Speaking of digs, five Trailblazers tallied double figures in digs in the Mines (10/12), led by Mykenna Nelson with 20 and Treanor had 13 as part of her triple-double ... additionally, Faleao picked up 12 digs and Jordyn Nelson and sophomore Rebekah Farris (career-high) collected 11 digs apiece ... DSU also had four players reach double figures in digs at Chadron State (10/19).

UP NEXT: Dixie State heads out on its final road swing of the 2019 regular season, which begins at current RMAC leader No. 10 Regis in Denver next Friday night, Nov. 8. DSU will also play at Colorado Christian the following night, Nov. 9, in Lakewood.