This week, the DSU men’s soccer team stayed undefeated with two wins in conference. On the women’s team, Tori Washington was named PacWest player of the week with three goals in two matches. The volleyball squad evened its season record with a conference win. The football team had impressive moments, but a fatal collapse starting the second quarter till midway through the fourth quarter. Here’s a look at the week in sports on campus:
Football
Freshman quarterback Blake Barney had his best passing game of the year and combined with backup Tyson Blackner to set a season high in yards in that department (392), but turnovers and missed assignments allowed Western Oregon to put up 42 straight points over the last three quarters, including three touchdowns in a four-minute span to open the fourth. Read the complete story here.
Volleyball
Dixie State came from behind to beat Azusa Pacific, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 30-28, Saturday afternoon. APU never trailed in the opening set and led by as many as six points at 18-12. The Storm pulled to within 20-18, but the Cougars were able to finish to go up 1-0.
Both teams played evenly in the second to a 15-15 tie. DSU went on a 9-4 run to get to game point 24-19. The Cougars rallied to cut the deficit to 24-23, but Krystalyn Sloan kill ended the set to bring them even with APU 1-1.
The third set culminated with the same result after both teams combined for 28 errors. Dixie State cashed in on 17 of those from the Cougars to take a 2-1 set lead.
Neither team could pull away in the fourth set . The Storm pulled even at 19-19 and both teams traded points until the score knotted again at 28. Two consecutive kills from Brette Anderson and Taylor Duryea finally gave the set and match to the hosts.
DSU finished with 48 kills for the match, though the Storm struggled to find their stroke as DSU hit just .158 for the match, including a .026 clip in game one and a .086 average in game two. Junior Delayne Daniel collected a team-high 13 kills, while Anderson finished with 11 kills. Dixie State’s defense recorded a season-high 15 total blocks, including nine solos. Makenzi Bird-Murphey accounted for three of those solo blocks and had five total, while Sloan and Brette Anderson each recorded two solo blocks.
Dixie State improved to 4-2 in the PacWest and 7-7 overall. Dixie State will host Chaminade Wednesday night at 6 p.m., at the Student Activities Center.
Men’s soccer
Dixie State collected two key PacWest Conference wins this week. The Storm was picked 12th in the PacWest preseason poll, but are tied atop the standings with Fresno Pacific after four games. The team has already collected more wins this season (5) than they have combined the last two seasons.
Both wins this week were by the slimmest of margins, 1-0. The Storm tallied the match’s lone goal against Dominican early in the 42nd minute as the Storm took advantage of a hand-ball call inside the Penguin penalty box. Santiago Alejandro scored the penalty kick.
The Red Storm defense allowed only three shots on goal. Goalkeeper Bradley Trella collected three saves to pick up his third shutout win of the year in goal.
Against the Holy Names University Hawks, Dixie State scored the lone goal in the 70th-minute when junior Kris Evans fed an entry pass to senior Alex Galvan, who sent the shot low into the net. The Hawks got seven shots on goal. Trella saved six of them while the DSU defense took credit for the final save.
The Storm had six shots on goal, with Alejandro, Ethan Vandenbosch and Frankie Mallek registering two attempts apiece.
DSU improved to 5-1-1, 3-0-1 in the PacWest. The Storm will return home to face BYU-Hawaii on Thursday and UH-Hilo on Saturday. Both matches will kick off at 7 p.m.
Women’s soccer
The Storm lost their first match of the week before ending a five-game losing streak with the win against Holy Names on Sunday.
The Dominican University Penguins scored twice in the span of four minutes early in the first half against DSU. The Storm cut the deficit in half at 2-1 shortly before halftime. Nicole Mertz’s flip throw assist to Tori Washington gave DSU their only goal as both teams would battle to a scoreless second half.
Against Holy Names, Washington scored two of DSU’s three goals on Sunday.
Both teams played through a scoreless first half before the Storm offense unleashed 14 shots in the second half. Washington’s first goal was again on a throw in from Nichole Mertz. Ten minutes later, Kesley Rumsey recorded her first collegiate goal. Jasmine Arollo got the assist. Washington scored her second goal of the match four minutes later. Goalkeeper Stacie Gubler made four saves in recording her first shutout victory of the season.
Washington was named PacWest player of the week for her performances in both matches.
Dixie State will host BYU-Hawaii on Thursday followed by a match against Hawaii Hilo this Saturday. Both matches will kick off at 4:30 p.m.
Cross Country
The Dixie State cross country teams recorded solid finishes Saturday at the California Baptist Invitational. The Storm made the most of their preview of the course that will also serve as the location for the Pacific West Conference championships later this month.
Skyler Storie won her second straight race, finishing the 6K (3.75 miles) course in 21:29.04 to lead the women’s team to a third place finish with an overall time of 1:59:39. Three other Red Storm runners recorded Top-25 finishes as Megan Sidwell finished in 19th place with a time of 24:06.66, Jenessa Mitchell finished in 21st place with a 24:21.32, and Elizabeth Cook finished in 24th place with a time of 24:37.25.
On the men’s side, Yonas Desta broke the team 8K (5 miles) record with a time of 25:58.42 and a 12th place finish to lead the men’s team to second place with an overall time of 2:13:56. Two others finished in the Top-20, as Hunter Chamberlain finished in 16th place with a time of 26:28.36 and Shi-Quan Nettingham finished in 19th place with a 26:34.62.
Both teams return to action on Saturday at the SUU Color Country Invite in Cedar City, Utah.
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