UVU campus briefs

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The team will see its first action in 2010-11 Saturday night (7 p.m.) when it hosts old SWAC rival Dixie State for an exhibition contest. The game will be played in the Activity Center and admission to the public is free.

UVU capped off its 2009-10 season by winning the inaugural Great West Conference Tournament Championship. The Wolverines finished with a 10-22 overall record and a 3-9 record in the Great West. UVU also won its final five games last season.

Utah Valley welcomes back eight letterwinners and two starters from last year's GWC tournament winning team. UVU also welcomes in five newcomers this year that will look to make an immediate impact and help solidify the roster.

Head coach Cathy Nixon also returns for her 16th season at the helm of UVU. Nixon has a career record of 274-181.

The Red Storm will travel up I-15 from St. George and come to Orem for the first time since Nov. 1, 2006. That last game was also an exhibition contest and UVU won it by 20 points, 87-67. Dixie State, a former Junior College rival from UVU's SWAC days, has now bumped up to NCAA Div. II Athletics. The Red Storm now compete in the Pacific West Conference.

Dixie State finished with a 17-8 overall record last season and placed second in the Pacific West with a 13-3 clip. The Red Storm return seven letterwinners from a year ago and three starters. DSC also returns its top scorer from 09-10 in sophomore forward Johnna Brown who averaged 13.9 ppg and 6.1 rpg.

The Wolverines will have their final exhibition game on Nov. 3, against Fort Lewis at 4:30 p.m., in the UCCU Center. UVU will officially begin its 2010-11 season at South Dakota State on Nov. 12, as part of the Preseason WNIT.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: In one of the more thrilling volleyball matches played at the Activity Center, UVU showed enough mental toughness to defeat South Dakota 3-1 (25-13, 13-25, 25-23, 32-30) Thursday night in Orem.

"There were some real ups and downs in tonight's match that really challenged us," said UVU head coach Sam Atoa. "There were some areas of the game where we didn't do a very good job, however we did enough to withstand the challenge that South Dakota gave to us."