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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's volleyball team looks to end a six-match losing streak with two matches in the Behnken Field House this week.  On Thursday, Westminster will play Montana Tech at 7 p.m.  They then face Montana Western on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster begins the week at 7-13 overall and sit sixth in the Frontier Conference with a 4-5 record.  The Griffins had won four straight matches prior to the current losing skid.  They are 2-4 at home this season and 2-2 at home in league games.

Westminster is averaging 11.38 kills per set and rank fifth in the Frontier Conference in that category.  They are hitting .167 while also recording 1.54 service aces per set.  As a team, the Griffins average 11.82 digs per set and rank third in the league in that department.

Ashley Marchant leads all Griffins with 194 kills while hitting .174.  Marchant ranks seventh in the Frontier with an average of 2.62 kills per set and her 2.55 digs per set is 13th in the league.  Kenzie Mitchell is hitting a team-best .222 and her 2.11 kills per set rank 14th in the Frontier.

Emily Atkinson is second in the conference with 674 assists and an average of 9.11 per set.  She is also 12th in service aces at 0.28 and 16th in digs at 2.47.  Katie Vance leads the team in service aces with 25 and blocks with 44.  Kyndall Kordakis has a team-high 326 digs and is third in the Frontier with 4.41 digs per set.

Game Coverage
Both matches this week will be available to watch on Griffins TV and have live stats available.  The links to both of these features can be found under the calendar on the front page at WestminsterGriffins.com.  The video stream begins about 10 minutes before first serve and can also be found at livestream.com/griffins.

Promotions
Thursday match is Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night with all Westminster faculty and staff members receiving up to three guests admission for FREE.  Saturday night is Father and Daughter Date Night.  All girls attending the match with their father receive FREE admission.

Thursday's Opponent: Montana Tech
Montana Tech begins the week at 7-15 overall and 0-9 in the Frontier Conference.  The Orediggers have dropped nine straight and 12 of the last 14 matches they have played.  They have only won two sets during this current losing streak and were swept by the Griffins in Butte on Sept. 16.

Emily Lobnitz has a team-high 142 kills and is followed closely by Korey Krumm with 141 kills.  Lobnitz is hitting .174 with 27 blocks.  Krumm has a team-best 34 blocks while hitting .152. Allyse Cruise is third in the Frontier with an average of 4.3 digs per set.

Saturday's Opponent: Montana Western
Montana Western enters the week at 6-14 overall and 1-8 in the conference.  The Bulldogs have dropped two straight and eight of the last nine overall.  Westminster picked up a 3-1 win over Western in Dillon on Sept. 17.

Kayla Schmid has recorded a team-leading 150 kills with 10 service aces while hitting .105.  Charelle Minor has picked up 124 kills with a .147 hitting efficiency.  Paige Latimer leads the Bulldogs with 440 assists and 25 service aces.  Susanne Rehse has recorded 52 total blocks and average 0.7 blocks per set.

Series Results
With the win in September, Westminster now holds a 15-3 lead in the all-time series against Montana Tech.  The Griffins have won two straight meetings and four of the last five.

Westminster leads the series against Montana Western 13-0 with the win earlier this season.  The 3-1 win in September snapped a run of 10 straight 3-0 sweeps of the Bulldogs by the Griffins.

Setting the Tone
Sophomore setter Emily Atkinson is second in the Frontier Conference with 674 assists and with an average of 9.11 per set.  She is 46th in the NAIA with that per set average and she can also be found in the Frontier top 20 in service aces and digs.  Atkinson has 21 aces to rank 12th in the league while her 0.28 aces per set is also 12th.   With 183 digs she is 15th in the conference with an average of 2.47 per set to place her in 16th.

Against San Diego Christian on Sept. 2, Atkinson became just the third player in school history to surpass the 1,000 career assist mark.  She currently has 1,497 assists in her career and is just 138 shy of moving into second place.  She is on pace to finish the year with 876 assists which would move her into second all-time and be the fourth-highest total for a season in school history.

On the Attack
Junior outside hitter Ashley Marchant has recorded a team-leading 194 kills during the season.  She has surpassed her old career high 132 set during her freshman year of 2009.  Marchant is seventh in the league at 2.62 kills per set and sixth in total kills.  She also ranks 14th in the league in service aces and 11th in digs.

Marchant has 416 kills in her career and has moved into fifth in school history in that department.  She is 202 kills shy of moving into the No. 4 spot.  She also sits fifth overall with an average of 2.18 kills per set and her 1,269 career attempts is good for fifth.

Checking in with Kordakis
Sophomore libero Kyndall Kordakis is again having a stellar season as the anchor of the Westminster defense.  Kordakis is second in the Frontier with 326 digs and her 4.41 digs per set is good for third in the league.  She has recorded double figures in digs 17 times this season and gone for 20-plus six times.

Kordakis is on pace to finish the year with 423 digs which would surpass the 392 she had as a freshman and rank fifth in school history for a single season.  She currently ranks fifth in career digs with 718 and she needs is 114 digs short of moving into the fourth position.

Serve and Defend
Sophomore Katie Vance is having a stellar season at the service line.  Vance leads the team with 25 service aces and ranks sixth in the Frontier with that total.  Her 0.35 aces per set is the fifth-best average in the league.  She is on pace to finish the year with 32 service aces which would rank eighth in school history for a season.

Vance also leads the Griffins and ranks ninth in the Frontier with 44 total blocks.  Her 0.62 blocks per set is the ninth-best average in the conference and also a team high.  Vance has six matches this season with at least four blocks and has recorded at least one block in 15 matches.  She ranks sixth in school history with 109 total blocks and third in blocks per set at 0.69.

Massey Ratings
Westminster currently sits at No. 60 in the latest edition of the Massey Ratings that were released on Sunday.  The Griffins dropped one position from last week and currently have a rating of 0.319.  They have played the No. 3-ranked schedule to date and are the fifth-rated team in the Frontier Conference.

The Massey Ratings are compiled each week with new ranking being released on Sundays.  Kenneth Massey is the creator of the rating formula and all ratings can be found on his web site at www.masseyratings.com.

Tough Slate
Westminster has once again compiled one of the toughest schedules in the country.  The Griffins will face eight teams that are ranked in the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll.  The schedule features seven teams that qualified for the 2010 NAIA National Championships along with four matches against teams from the Golden State Athletic Conference. The non-conference slate also features a home-and-home with the College of Idaho and a home match with NCAA DII foe Mesa State.

Watch the Griffins Online
Westminster is pleased to announce that all nine Griffin home volleyball matches will be available to watch live on Griffins TV.  Westminster, along with the Victory Sports Network, have created a channel on Livestream to become the new online streaming home of the Westminster Griffins.  Fans can access the channel at WestminsterGriffins.com or at Livestream.com/griffins.