It felt — and sounded — like a playoff atmosphere on Tuesday night at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

Opening the season against nonconference rival Sterling, Dixon pulled away down the stretch in a 25-22, 20-25, 25-19 win road win. It was the second straight season the Duchesses beat Sterling in three sets to open the year.

Izzy Queckboerner said it took a lot of picking each other up for Dixon to battle its way to a competitive win in a loud road atmosphere.

“For a while we were playing individually,” she said. “And as a team that doesn’t work. You have to play together, or you’re not going to see what you want to see.”

That togetherness made for a balanced attack as Queckboerner led Dixon with eight kills, Leah Carlson (two blocks) had seven, Morgan Hargrave (three aces) had seven and Solis Thompson (two blocks) added five.

Presley Lappin led the Duchesses with 15 assists and Carlson had 14.

Dixon pulled away in the first set after it was tied 21-all.

Sterling answered in the second set, putting it away with an ace from Alasia Harris-Rascon.

Sterling trailed just 20-19 in the third set before Dixon scored six straight to win it.

Queckboerner said focusing just on the current point was key to pulling away.

“Really slowing it down” she said, “and taking it one point at a time helped us.”

Nia Harris (17 assists) led Sterling with seven kills, while Harris-Rascon and Kasey Weeks (23 assists) each had six.

Harris said it was great to kick off the season with such a great atmosphere.

“We saw all of our fans here and we had a big student section,” she said. “We wanted to beat Dixon.”

Sterling has plenty of new faces this season looking to gain varsity experience. Harris thought errors were costly in the setback.

“The simple errors like the missed serves, the net calls are what really slowed us down,” she said.

Harris is looking forward to the season.

“We have some younger girls, but you can definitely tell it’s like a sisterhood between all of us,” she said. “We have that team bond that everybody wants.”

Dixon coach Bunyan Cocar like how the team battled through an injury to Libero Yui Santos.

“She dove for a ball and hit her head pretty good and a big bump,” Cocar said. “We had to change our lineup a bit but the girls responded really well.”

He said some sophomores and juniors stepped up who haven’t played in a while. And Carlson and Lappin both were able to set the hitters up well.

“I thought the hitters played under control,” he said. “Overall it’s kind of a nice, ‘see where you’re at’ game. I’m really just pleased with our effort most of all.

“We made some mistakes, we overcame those mistakes, and we played like a veteran team like we are.”

Cocar said it’s great to start the year against Sterling.

“They have such a great tradition here and they always have a good team,” he said. “It’s always a good matchup for us.

“They’ve kind of set the standard in this area for many years, and for us to come out on top in this atmosphere, it felt like postseason or conference play. It meant something.”

Queckboerner agreed.

“Both teams are friends,” she said, “but it’s definitely one of our games that we take very seriously and we just want to win.”

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Sterling's Kasey Weeks powers the ball. Sterling hosted Dixon in Volleyball on August 26, 2025 at Musgrove Fieldhouse. (Brian Hurley)