Hungry for a win against rival No. 5 seed BYU-Hawaii, the Dixie State women's volleyball team got it done in the postseason when it mattered most with a 3-1 win to advanced to the finals of the NCAA West Regionals.
Dixie State (22-8) won the first set and used a dominant performance to send a message that the Red Storm wouldn't go away any time soon. DSU hit .294 to BYU-Hawaii's (22-6) .195 and had four players with double-digit kills and five with double-digit digs. DSU avenged two regular-season losses to the Seasiders.
The No. 8 seed Red Storm take on No. 7 seed Sonoma State on Saturday at 7 p.m. MT, in Nampa for the West Region title.
Shelby Sorenson had another big night with 47 assists as she found teammates Lindsey Jones, Kendahl Weiland, Edithza Urias and Nicole Koehler for 15, 13, 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Kara Cotter led with 17 digs, Alex Anderson had 14, Maddie Rex posted 11, and Hannah Harrah and Sorenson posted 10 apiece.
In set one, Dixie State came out ready to play and kept pace with the nation's No. 9 team. The Red Storm led early, but BYU-Hawaii came back to tie it at 11-11. Three straight kills from DSU gave it the momentum back and a lead it wouldn't give up the rest of the first set. Dixie State held off the Seasiders and took set one, 25-19.
The story of set two was the Red Storm's start. Riding the momentum from set one, DSU was red hot, scoring the first 13 points before a service error gave BYU-Hawaii its first points of the set. Dixie State was hitting more than .700 over the first 13 points. There was no way the Storm would allow any sort of a comeback with such a big lead and dominated the second set to the tune of a 25-16 win.
Dixie State cooled off in the third and trailed the Seasiders, 15-10, and couldn't ever get it going. BYU-Hawaii took over the set and won it, 25-15, to make it a 2-1 DSU lead.
Trying to rekindle the spirit of the second set, Dixie State opened with a 5-1 lead and kept it going, determined to not let up, and it led 13-6 with all the momentum. The lead extended to 20-12, but the Seasiders rattled off five straight and got within two at 21-19. The Red Storm said no more and scored the next four to take down the fifth-seeded team and advance to the finals of the West Region of the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championships.
Kenny is a BYU graduate, currently working as the media relations coordinator at Dixie State University. @KennyCoxKC