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This Week
The Westminster women's volleyball team plays at home for just the third and fourth times in 21 matches when they host Montana Tech and Montana Western this week. On Thursday, October 15, the Griffins face Montana Tech at 7:00 p.m. in the Behnken Field House. Then on Saturday, October 17, Montana Western visits Salt Lake City for a 2:00 p.m. match.

Westminster enters the week with a 6-15 overall record and sits 3-4 in the Frontier Conference. They dropped two matches against NCAA DII teams last weekend in Hawaii. BYU-Hawaii claimed a 3-1 win over the Griffins on Friday night and Chaminade won 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Westminster is 2-0 at home this season, picking up 3-0 wins over Montana State-Northern and Great Falls last month. They have won four straight home matches dating back to last season and are 25-7 in the Behnken Field House all-time.

Frontier Conference Update
Through the first round of play in the Frontier Conference, Westminster sits tied for fifth at 3-4. Carroll currently leads the conference at 6-1 followed by Lewis-Clark State and Great Falls at 5-2. If the tournament started today, the Griffins would face Great Falls in the opening round.

Live Stats
Live stats will be available for both matches this week. You can access the live stats by visiting westminstergriffins.com.

Video Streaming
All Westminster home athletic events are now available to watch with our video streaming. You can watch both matches this week online at westminstergriffins.com. They also are archived so you can watch them again whenever you like.

Inside the Series
•Westminster is 11-2 against Montana Tech since 2005. They had a four-match winning streak snapped with a 3-0 loss against the Orediggers on September 11 in Butte, Montana.

•Since 2005, the Griffins have gone 9-0 against Montana Western. That streak was continued on September 12 with a 3-0 win in Dillon, Montana.

Last Week
The Westminster women's volleyball team dropped two matches over the weekend in Hawaii. On Friday night, Westminster lost 3-1 to Brigham Young-Hawaii. That was followed with a 3-1 loss against Chaminade on Saturday afternoon. With the two losses, Westminster falls to 6-15 on the season.

Talita Kresser led the Griffins with 14 kills on 64 attempts against BYU-Hawaii. Westminster hit negative .024 in the match, their lowest of the season. The Griffins recorded 84 digs in the match including 30 from Tahnie Blymiller and 13 from Katie McLintock. BYU-Hawaii had a 47-39 advantage in kills.

Becky Burke had a team-high 12 kills in the loss at Chaminade on Saturday. Burke his .360 in the match on 25 attempts. Kelsey Schaufler hit .417 (7-0-17) with two blocks. Kresser contributed 10 kills and Stephanie Jones had eight of her own. Blymiller finished with 29 digs and Kresser added 15.

Freshman Setter
Griffin freshman Megan Evans has assumed the offensive controls this season. Evans has started every match at setter and is currently averaging 7.78 assists per set. She currently ranks fourth in the Frontier Conference in assists. Evans has eight matches this season with at least 30 assists and has also posted a team-high eight double-doubles. She is also the team leader with 19 service aces.

Everyday Ericka
Junior Ericka Evans once again is doing a little bit of everything for the Griffins. Evans currently leads the team with 201 kills and is second with 210 digs. Evans has eight times led the team in kills this season and another was tops in digs for two other matches. The 5-10 outside hitter from Layton has 799 hitting attempts this season to lead the team in that department. Evans matched a career high with 21 digs against San Diego Christian on August 21.

Evans recorded the 500th kill of her career on October 3 against Rocky Mountain College. She became just the fourth player in school history to reach the 500 kill club. She sits just one service ace shy of 50 in her career, ranking fourth in school history in that category.

Digging Machine
Westminster is currently 14th in the country in digs with an average of 18.73 per set. They have recorded at least 50 digs in 19 matches and have gone for more than 70 digs 11 times, including the last five matches they have played. They posted a season-high 101 against San Diego Christian on August 21.

Tahnie Blymiller is leading the team in digs with 383. She currently leads the Frontier Conference with her 5.25 digs per set average and ranks 29th in the country. She has posted 20-plus digs in six straight matches and seven of the last eight. In conference matches, Blymiller has average 6.45 digs per set. She reached the 1,000 dig plateau on October 3 at Rocky Mountain College.

Talita on the Outside
Talita Kresser has thrived since moving to the starting outside hitter position on September 17. She has posted double-digit kills in all seven matches after only doing that twice in the first 14 matches of the season. In these seven matches, Kresser is averaging 3.75 kills per set while hitting .175. She is also third on the team with 61 digs during the stretch.

Kresser was named the Frontier Conference Player of the Week on September 22 for her performance against MSU-Northern and Great Falls. Kresser averaged five kills and three digs while hitting .455 during the week.

Next Week
Westminster hits the road for the final time of the 2009 regular season. They visit Montana State-Northern on Friday, October 23 for a 7:00 p.m. match. The final road game of the year is on Saturday, October 24 at 2:00 p.m. against Great Falls.