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Show ifuv. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014 S'u'0g3gOI3iG DIXIESUNNEWS.COM Ct7 G0C5O DgEi-'- j' CD 1 'S s Ms i S3 . v I L v 1 i M' V k I V$S !1 C ' - f .. rr AC -- r , -- n" a. v ' r i i iffttmUKCt. wi, ;S H. - IMMW.U" a 'g rtrtf. 2ZbeiT. .jttiffaWfc.. fcni. 4cJicfwdnA-- Clouds roll in over Hansen Stadium during football game between Dixie State and Azusa Pacific University on Sept. 14, 2013. The stands were nearly empty during the start of the game. DECKER He runs up into the end-zon- e, sweat dripping down his face; he just made the catch to win the game. He looks around at a crowd mostly filled with empty seats. Only few were there to see him make history. In a university of more than 10,000 students, only an eighth attend Dixie State University athletic games. But the biggest questions DSU students have are why Dixie doesn't see packed stands, no matter the quality of the team. Some students believe that if more people went to the games, the teams would fare better? One of die main reasons athletes say it is so important for students to go to games is because student attendance and athletes' perfonnances feed off of each other. I used to play football in when you high school have a packed stadium you are always going to play better because you have something more than your team, said Matt Devore, an junior integrated studies major from Mesquite, Nevada, and DSU Student Association marketing manager. You have backing there for you, so as an athlete, you are going to do well for them. DSU safety Colton Olsen, VOLLEYBALL 25-2- 1, 25-22- a sophomore business major from Spanish Fork, added he doesn't think it totally affects how he plays, but it gives off positive vibes and gives the players confidence when there are lots of people in the stands. Some students assume it is just die spectrum of people who attend Dixie State who decide they have better diings to do on a Saturday night tiian watch football, but other students think it is because of poor marketing. Devore said typicady if die students friends arent going, dien the student would not attend the games, but he said there is a big opportunity for more marketing. For me as a student, if I We came out really strong in the first set, said Rex, a senior 3busi-nes- s (25-1- 1, ). The team spent the week with a lot of intense preparation.. Our practices have been intense and focused, said head coach Robyn Felder. We will be hard to beat. DSU came out firing, recording a .324 hitting percentage in the first set, but then cooled down to .269 for the match. In contrast, Holy Names was only held to a .110 mark for the wasnt involved in anything; I dont really see when die games are home, or away, Devore said. I definitely think there could be an improvement in that. But Devore said marketing for die games does not primarily fall under the student governments responsibility. From my side of things, it's been more of thing, Devore said. And we support it. is where the spirit athletics starts from. Dixie of It is in charge of activities for has sport the adiletics. are over who representatives D-Cr- w every sport. Those representatives talk with all of the head coaches ball. 11 Weiland recorded a team-hig- h added kills for the match, while Rex eight kills and 10 digs. After the hot start, DSU had to fight with winless Holy Names. Each team went back and forth with the lead, but DSU held on to win each set. The team just stepped up and finished strong to get the last two sets, said Rex. We are road warriors, Felder said. We have scouted these teams and know what they bring to the table. match. continued from Page 4 The Storm won in straight sets had something similar to the Man called the YeUers. The Yellers were guys in' yedow suits to stood in front of die NDSUs student section and got the student section more involved in the games. The Yellers got so big they even caught the attention of ESPN. Reidhead believes diat if they can get the students excited about being in the student section, it will give them more of an incentive to come. He said that is the reason diey are spreading the word throughout die stands, only half of which .giii TayDecker25 and try to meet dieir needs. An example includes when volleyball plays all four Hawaii schools, die coach asked to send out a message for ad of the students to wear Hawaiian shirts to die games. If more students knew about die games as well as die activites, would DSU see an increase of attendance at football and basketball havent seen more than 4,500 people in " P BY TAYLOR rzJ games? For the last three years Dixie i - from Tucson, Arizona. Then we made some errors and gave them the momentum. We got the job done, but it wasnt the prettiest volleyball we played this year. Offensively, DSU was too much for Holy Names, producing more kills in each of the three sets. Overall, I think the setters did a nice job of distributing the ball, Felder said. The defense really stepped up and allowed our hitters a lot of chances to take a swing at the are students. I think that if more people knew about die games, more people would make time in dieir schedules to come, said Ben Fuller, a junior business major from Alpine. Fuller said his friends and him rarely hear about die home games so they don't know when to attend. Kamie Thompson, a sophomore general education major from Sanpete, said if diere was more to look forward to at the games, like a big fan section, she would attend more games. College kids just want to be where die party is at, said campus. Since one of main is exdie the spirit of purposes citement, it figured it would do something similar, such as die Man. Along the lines of creating more student involvement, it has started working with the cheer coach so the cheerleaders can help give the students , direction. 1 Reidhead also said when the" i sign people up for they still try to get who dont want to join people or dont have to money to put I their name down in database. can send ; With that, text messages out to all of the people currently in its database president Dustin Reidhead, a junior integrated studies major from Kane. is trying to make So the student section more of a party for all who attend, Reidhead said. With that in mind, has taken the opportunity to create a new figure around D-Cr- D-Cr- about die upcoming games w and activities. But overall Reidhead believes why there is such sparse student attendance is w campus for the games called the Man. The Man is mirroring North Dakota State University, which t 1 it f 1 I I iT G 11 ii. A,,- - - $ t V a r 21 t ij-'V- p - H r 4 MS 't aid. an 7 G $ m j , taJ hi, rer-- ; art yaii asm . a u 9 Kara Cotter, a senior business major from Hurricane, serves the ball against the Dixie State alumni on Aug. 30. The next volleyball game will be at home against Azusa Pacific University on Friday. am , t 3 J A j marketing. ey ' 2 could be solved with proper or e--; : a combination of people not : knowing and students not seeing a bunch of people, so its not fun for them, all which h; ti; 5- CMG8 GTu GCDFDRGiry U U -- . 1 u t I |