(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING SERVE: Dixie State (16-11/12-7 PacWest) will close out the 2016 regular season this Saturday, Nov. 19, as the Trailblazers host Point Loma (11-17/9-10 PacWest) at 12 noon inside the DSU Student Activities Center. The match will also serve as "Senior Day" as seniors Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS), Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS), Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) and Megan Huddleston (Provo, Utah/Timpview HS) will play in their final home match. DSU enters Saturday's finale looking to end on a high note after having won just four of its last 11 matches overall following the Trailblazers' season-high 10-match winning streak midway through the season.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 5-3 all-time vs. Point Loma, which includes a 3-1 road victory over the Sea Lions to open Pacific West Conference play this past Sept. 16, and a split of two matches last season as both teams defended their respective home courts. Dixie State is 3-1 in four previous home matches vs. PLNU.

COACHING STAFF: 2015 PacWest Coach of the Year Robyn Felder (Eastern Washington, 2002) is in her fifth season on the Trailblazer bench. Felder has posted an 81-55 overall record during her tenure, including a 19-11 record last season in leading DSU to its first-ever Pacific West championship. In 2014, she led DSU to its best record in the program's NCAA Division II-era, a 22-9 overall mark, which included a trip to the NCAA West Region final (Sweet 16). Felder, who was also named PacWest Co-Coach of the Year in 2013, is joined on the bench by assistant coaches Liz Fisher (fifth season), Nate Capps (second season), and former DSU standout Makenzi Bird-Murphey (St. George, Utah/Snow Canyon HS) (student assistant, first season).  
    Felder is 5-3 all-time vs. Point Loma.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State wrapped up the road portion of its 2016 slate with consecutive losses at California Baptist (1-3; 11/11) and Azusa Pacific (2-3; 11/12) last weekend in southern California. The Trailblazers then returned to the DSU SAC and opened their final homestand with a 3-0 sweep of BYU-Hawaii last Monday night in the final match ever between the two schools.

STILL PLENTY TO PLAY FOR: Dixie State still has a chance to finish in the top-three in the PacWest standings if the Trailblazers can pick up a win on Saturday. Concordia-Irvine (17-2) claimed the PacWest championship this past Wednesday night with a 3-1 win over Point Loma, though second-place California Baptist (15-4) clinched the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA West Regionals due to CUI being ineligible for NCAA postseason play during its transition into full NCAA membership.
    Dominican (12-6) and Hawai'i Pacific (12-6) are currently tied for third, one-half game ahead of fifth-place Dixie State (12-7) and two full games ahead of sixth-place APU (10-8).

QUICK HITS: Senior setter Kailey Frei (Orem, Utah/Timpanogos HS) (2,437 assists) became Dixie State's all-time leading assists leader after she collected 47 dimes in the loss to Dominican (11/5) ... Frei, who broke DSU's single-season record (1,120) last season, has 935 (#6 on single-season list) assists this year and needs 36 more in her final regular season match to vault up to fourth on the single-season list ... Frei posted her sixth double-double of the year (assists/digs) with 32 dimes and 11 digs in the win over BYU-H ... Frei is also sixth on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.255) and she notched her 200th-career kill (202) in the Dominican match.
    Senior outside hitter Delayne Daniel (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleaseant Grove HS) moved up to fifth place on DSU's career kills list (640) after she averaged 15.7 kills per match last week, including 17 kills at CBU (11/11) and 16 vs. BYU-H last Monday ... Daniel needs 16 more kills to move up to fourth on the career list and 19 kills shy of vaulting into third-placeoverall ... Daniel became just the seventh player in DSU's NCAA-era to record 300-plus kills in a season, doing so at CBU (11/11) ... Daniel leads the team with 342 kills this season, which is good for ninth-overall in the PacWest this season, and ranks her third on DSU's single-season list ... Daniel's recent run has also moved her back into the top-10 on DSU's career hitting percentage list (.214; #9 all-time) ... Daniel has recorded double-doubles (kills/digs) in 12 of her last 15 starts and has a team-high 16 on the year ... Daniel (585 digs; #4 all-time) enters Saturday's finale needing only 15 more digs to become just the fourth player in DSU's D-II era to collect 600 career digs.
    Senior middle blocker Lindsay Garrett (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) moved into 10th-place on DSU's career kills list in Monday's win vs. BYU-H ... Garrett, who now has 501 career kills to her credit, enters Saturday's finale as DSU's career hitting percentage leader (.272) ... Garrett tied a career-high with nine total blocks in the loss at APU (11/12) ... Garrett is the fourth player in DSU's NCAA D-II era to amass 200-plus block assists and has 214 for her career ... she is also fourth in school history in total blocks (238) and is t-fourth all-time in solo blocks (24).
    Sophomore OH Taylor Duryea (Logan, Utah/Sky View HS) returned to the DSU lineup at APU (11/12) and responded with 11 kills and nine digs ... Duryea notched her first career double-double with season-highs of 19 kills and 14 digs (tied career high) vs. Notre Dame de Namur (10/3) ... Duryea also had 14 kills in the win at NDNU (10/28) and has recorded double-digits in kills in 11 of 25 matches overall ... Duryea also notched her 400th-career kill at Hilo (10/17) ... in addition, she has 67 career services (37 this season; t-#2 on single-season list), which ranks her sixth on DSU's career aces list.
    Junior MB Malary Marshall (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) had a night to remember in DSU's win over her former team, BYU-Hawaii, last Monday night ... Marshall tallied a career-high 10 total blocks, including two solo blocks, and finished with six kills against her former mates ... Marshall also notched DSU career-highs of 12 kills and five digs vs. Dominican (11/5) ... in all, Marshall has collected 56 combined kills over her last seven matches ... sophomore libero Sidney Brandon (Bountiful, Utah/Bountiful HS) posted her seventh 20-plus digs match of the year with 24 at APU (11/12) and has posted double-figures in digs in 22 of 24 matches played overall ... Brandon also tied a career high with three aces vs. Dominican (11/5).
    Sophomore OH Kayla Chapman (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) threw down a career-high 12 kills vs. Dominican (11/5) and notched a career-best with two assists and picked up her first collegiate ace in the AAU win (10/29) ... sophomore right-side hitter Shannon Sorensen (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS) collected 16 combined kills and nine total blocks on the NorCal trip, including a career highs of eight kills at Academy of Art (10/29) and four total blocks at Fresno Pacific (10/31) ... freshman OH Amanda Schultz (Springville, Utah/Springville HS) saw extended playing time in the Dominican match (11/5) and responded with a career-high four kills ... Schultz also collected a career-best nine digs vs. BYU-H last Monday.
    Dixie State hit a season-high .329 in the win at Concordia-Irvine (9/16), including a .400 clip in set two and a then-season-high .417 in set three ... DSU hit a season-best .500 in the opening set vs. Holy Names (9/24) ... Dixie State's defense held HNU to a DSU school record -.082 hitting percentage, which marked just the fourth time in DSU's NCAA D-II era that it had forced a team into a negative hitting percentage ... the previous record was -.034 vs. Fort Lewis (9/9/11), while DSU forced two other opponents in 2014, including Chaminade (-.020; 10/13/14) and Fresno Pacific (-.020; 11/15/14).
    As a team DSU is hitting .196, while Trailblazer opponents are hitting at a .177 clip through 27 matches this season ... DSU collected 12 total service aces over its last three matches and now has 159 on the year, compared to just 105 combined by its 27 opponents ... DSU is averaging 12.35 kills, 16.79 digs and 2.27 blocks per set through 98 total sets this season.

UP NEXT: The 2016 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball tournament 64-team field will be announced next Monday evening, Nov. 21, at 5:30 p.m. (MT), online at NCAA.com. Please visit www.dixieathletics.com for updates if DSU is selected to make its fourth-straight trip to the West regionals.