Volleyball wraps up 2021 season at home vs. Seattle U and California Baptist

2021 DIXIE STATE VOLLEYBALL
(5-15, 4-8 WAC)

MATCHES 21-22 - vs. SU/CBU

Thursday, Nov. 11 - vs. Seattle U - 6 p.m.
Burns Arena | St. George

Saturday, Nov. 13 - vs. California Baptist - 12 p.m.
Burns Arena | St. George

The Dixie State volleyball team is set to close its Fall 2021 season this week with home matches against Seattle U and California Baptist inside the Burns Arena.

The Trailblazers will open the week with a Thursday evening (6 p.m.) matchup against Seattle U, followed by a Saturday afternoon (12 p.m.) contest vs. California Baptist.

Thursday's match will be will be broadcast on ESPN+, while Saturday's match will be streamed live at WacDigitalNetwork.com. Live stats links for both matches can be found at DixieStateAthletics.com.

SENIOR DAY: Saturday's match will serve as DSU's Senior Day as the team honors eight student-athletes who will take part in their final match as a Trailblazer. This year's seniors include, Lizzy Clark, Rebekah Farris, Jordyn Nelson, Siara Roberts, Abigail Shaffer, Lacie Tenney, Lauolive Tonga, and Megan Treanor.

ALL-TIME VS. SEATTLE U: Thursday's match marks the fourth meeting between Dixie State and Seattle U. The teams split their first two matchups in Seattle during the Spring 2021 season. Dixie State took a 2-1 lead in the series with a 3-0 sweep of the Redhawks in Seattle on October 9.

ALL-TIME VS. CALIFORNIA BAPTIST: Saturday's match marks the 19th meeting between Dixie State and California Baptist. The Lancers currently hold a 12-6 overall series lead, while DSU holds a 5-4 edge in matches played in St. George. The teams first met in 2006 with 14 of the first 17 (2011-17) matchups in the series taking place when both teams were NCAA Division II members of the Pacific West Conference. The Trailblazers earned two wins over CBU in Spring 2021 in the first meeting between the teams as members of the WAC. DSU pushed its win streak in the series to three matches with a 3-1 defeat of the Lancers on October 7 in Riverside.

KNOW YOUR FOE: Seattle U enters the week with a 4-19 overall record and a 1-11 mark in WAC play. The Redhawks earned their first WAC victory with a 3-1 triumph at Lamar on October 23. Right side hitter Sierra Bartley leads Seattle U with 218 kills, while outside hitter Eve Kerschenbaum has added 168 kills. Setter Darian Goins leads the Redhawks with 357 assists. Defensively, libero Katlyn Sipes has tallied a team-best 240 digs, while middle blocker Lauren McCabe has recorded a team-high 60 total blocks.

California Baptist enters the week with a 13-9 overall record and is tied for third place in the WAC with an 8-4 mark in conference play. The Lancers won six consecutive matches before dropping a 3-2 decision to Chicago State last Thursday. CBU boasts two outside hitters with 200 or more kills, as Tesa Oaks has posted 221 kills and Christine Graf has tallied 213 kills. Setters Leah Pease (420 assists) and Hana Okuhara (394 assists) have combined for 814 of the Lancers' 945 total assists. Defensively, libero Paige Johnstone leads CBU with 323 digs, while middle blocker Chandler Gorman ranks seventh in the WAC with a team-best 83 total blocks.

ALL-TIME IN CONFERENCE PLAY: In their 15 seasons (2007-2021) of NCAA conference membership, the Trailblazers have posted a 159-97 (.621) record in conference play, including a 90-38 (.703) mark at home. Since joining the WAC in 2020, DSU has posted a 12-16 (.428) record in conference play with a 7-5 (.583) mark at home.

HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE: Since joining the NCAA in 2006, Dixie State has posted a 108-49 (.687) overall record at home and has logged a winning record at home 11 times (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, spring 2020), including eight consecutive home winning seasons. Until 2018, the Student Activities Center served as the main home venue for DSU Volleyball. The Trailblazers hosted season-opening tournaments inside the Burns Arena in 2018 and 2019, before making the arena its main home venue in Spring 2021. Dixie State has played to a 12-9 (.571) overall record inside the Burns Arena.

WEEK IN REVIEW: The Trailblazers dropped its final two road matches of the season last week, falling in straight sets at New Mexico State on Thursday and Grand Canyon on Saturday.

MOVING UP: Senior setter Jordyn Nelson posted a team-high 15 assists on Thursday at NMSU to move to No. 2 on the DSU All-Time Assists list. Nelson added five more assists on Saturday at Grand Canyon for a career total of 2,337.

FIRST TO 20 KILLS: Freshman outside hitter Hannah Howard posted a career-high 22 kills to lead the Trailblazers to a 3-2 comeback win over Abilene Christian on October 22, marking the first time a DSU player has recorded 20 kills in a single match in the NCAA Division I era.

CAREER SETS PLAYED LEADER: Senior setter Jordyn Nelson became the DSU Career Sets Played leader (NCAA era) during the team's trip to Texas two weeks ago. Nelson has played in 399 sets and 110 matches since joining the Trailblazers in 2017.

NEVER-ENDING SET: Dixie State and Tarleton State combined for 70 points (36-34) in the second set on October 23, marking the Trailblazers' highest scoring set since the NCAA moved the winning point total from 30 to 25 in 2008. The set featured 21 ties and eight lead changes, while the teams combined for 14 set-clinching opportunities before the Texans eventually claimed the set on the 15th try.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB: Sophomore libero Mykenna Nelson made DSU history on October 16 at Utah Valley, posting 11 digs to surpass the 1,000 career digs marks and join the 1,000 career digs club. Nelson has added 85 digs since then for a total of 1,086 career digs. Nelson is just the fifth NCAA-era Trailblazer to tally 1,000 career digs.

CHASING HISTORY: Senior outside hitter Megan Treanor tallied seven kills last week to push her career total to 810 kills. Treanor needs just 41 kills to surpass Alex Shearer (850 kills) as the DSU All-Time Kills leader.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: The Dixie State win at California Baptist on October 7 marked a night of firsts for the Trailblazers as DSU picked up its first road win of the season and the first road victory of the Camilla Hafoka era. Hafoka also accomplished a feat no other Dixie State NCAA-era volleyball coach has done: Win in Riverside. The win over CBU marks the first time in eight NCAA-era tries the Trailblazers have defeated the Lancers in Riverside.

A NEW ERA: For the first time since 2012, the Trailblazers opened the season with a new head coach. After two seasons serving as an assistant coach, Camilla Hafoka begins her first season as the new head coach of the Dixie State Volleyball program.

During her time on the Trailblazer sidelines, Coach Hafoka helped lead Dixie State to a 29-16 overall record. In her first season as an assistant coach, Dixie State played to a 20-8 overall record in the program's final year of NCAA Division II competition.This past spring, Hafoka helped guide DSU to a 9-8 overall mark in its debut NCAA Division I season, which included an 8-8 mark (t-4th) in its first season in the Western Athletic Conference.

Whitnee Tupe returns for her eighth season as a DSU assistant coach, while Julia Smith (Texas A&M, 2002) joins the staff after coaching last season at Snow College. Former DSU player To'a Faleao also joins the staff as a volunteer assistant coach, and Riley Lyman (BYU, 2020) will serve as Director of Volleyball Operations to round out the staff.

LET'S RUN IT BACK: After posting a 9-8 overall record in its first season as an NCAA Division I member, Dixie State is ready to pick up where it left off in year two.

The Trailblazers return 13 players from the Spring 2021 season, including five starters. Senior outside hitter Megan Treanor (First Team All-WAC, 171 kills, 168 assists, 127 digs, 34 blocks, 25 service aces) headlines the returners and was named to the Preseason All-WAC team.

DSU returns three others who posted at least 100 kills in the spring, including junior outside hitter Whittnee Nihipali (149 kills), junior middle blocker Lauolive Tonga (116 kills), and freshman Kate Hardy (WAC All-Freshman team, 103 kills). Despite playing in only nine matches in the spring, senior setter Jordyn Nelson returns as DSU's spring leader in assists (249). Defensively, Hardy posted a team-high 52 blocks in the spring, while Tonga added 42.

YEAR TWO IN THE WAC: The Trailblazers enter their second season as a member of the WAC in 2021. DSU recorded an 8-8 mark in WAC play in the spring to finish in a fourth-place tie with Tarleton State.

With the addition of the four Texas schools (Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin) the conference standings have been split into two divisions: Southwest and West. Dixie State will play in the West Division, alongside California Baptist, Chicago State, Grand Canyon, New Mexico State, Seattle U, and Utah Valley, while the Southwest Division will feature Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, and UT Rio Grande Valley.

The Trailblazers were picked to finish fifth in the West Division in the recent WAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. DSU will play a 14-game WAC slate with a home-and-home against each member of the West Division, while traveling to Abilene, Texas, for matches against ACU and Tarleton.

TEAM NOTES:

Dixie State earned its first five-set victory of the season on October 22, rallying from a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 win over Abilene Christian.
The Trailblazers played to a 36-34 loss in the second set vs. Tarleton State on October 23, marking DSU's highest scoring set since 2007.
The Trailblazers picked up their first road win of the season with a 3-1 triumph over CBU on October 7. The win also marked DSU's first-ever road win over the Lancers.
Dixie State recorded its largest-ever Burns Arena volleyball crowd on September 18, when 631 fans attended to see Dixie State take on Southern Utah. Only three other matches in DSU's NCAA era have seen more fans in attendance, with the biggest crowd coming on Oct. 6, 2017, when 1,004 fans packed the Student Activities Center to see the Trailblazers battle Hawaii Pacific.
Head Coach Camilla Hafoka made her debut as Dixie State head coach in August, marking the first time since 2012 the Trailblazers opened the season with a new head coach. Hafoka earned her first career win on September 18 in a 3-1 victory over SUU.
Sophomore outside hitter Bridgett Talia averaged 10.5 kills per match last week. Talia tallied 13 kills vs. New Mexico State, followed by eight kills against Grand Canyon.
Junior outside hitter Whittnee Nihipali posted a team-high 10 kills vs. Grand Canyon Saturday to push her season total to 148.
Sophomore setter Taela Laufiso tallied a team-best 18 assists on Saturday at Grand Canyon.
Freshman outside hitter Hannah Howard recorded 11 kills in last week's matches to push team-best total to 171 kills.
Sophomore libero Mykenna Nelson tallied 28 digs last week to push her career total to 1,086 kills. Nelson is just the fifth DSU player in the NCAA era to record 1,000 kills. Nelson also ranks third in the WAC with 4.66 digs per set.
Freshman middle blocker Kate Hardy leads the team with 82 total blocks and ranks fifth in the WAC with 1.14 blocks per set.
Senior setter Jordyn Nelson posted a team-high 15 assists on Thursday at NMSU to move to No. 2 on the DSU All-Time Assists list. Nelson added five more assists on Saturday at GCU for a career total of 2,337.

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Players Mentioned

#9 Lizzy Clark: MB; 6' 1"; Senior

#4 Rebekah Farris: DS; 5' 9"; Junior

#6 Kate Hardy: MB; 6' 0"; Freshman

#3 Hannah Howard: OH; 6' 0"; Freshman

#17 Taela Laufiso: S; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#1 Jordyn Nelson: S; 5' 6"; Senior

#7 Mykenna Nelson: L; 5' 8"; Sophomore

#15 Whittnee Nihipali: OH; 6' 2"; Junior

#12 Siara Roberts: S; 6' 0"; Junior

#10 Lacie Tenney: MB; 6' 1"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#9 Lizzy Clark
: 6' 1"; Senior
: MB

#4 Rebekah Farris
: 5' 9"; Junior
: DS

#6 Kate Hardy
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: MB

#3 Hannah Howard
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: OH

#17 Taela Laufiso
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: S

#1 Jordyn Nelson
: 5' 6"; Senior
: S

#7 Mykenna Nelson
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: L

#15 Whittnee Nihipali
: 6' 2"; Junior
: OH

#12 Siara Roberts
: 6' 0"; Junior
: S

#10 Lacie Tenney
: 6' 1"; Junior
: MB