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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's volleyball team plays two Frontier Conference matches at home this week.  On Thursday, Westminster plays Montana State-Northern at 7 p.m.  The Griffins face Great Falls on Saturday at 2 p.m.  Both matches will be played in the Behnken Field House.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster returns home after picking up two wins on the road last week.  The Griffins are 5-7 overall and 2-2 in the conference.  Six of the seven losses have come against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25.

Ashley Marchant leads the team with 112 kills and averages 2.6 kills per set.  She is hitting .169 on 361 attempts while also racking up 112 digs.  Kenzie Mitchell has totaled 94 kills with a .232 hitting efficiency.  Mitchell recorded 17 kills over the two matches last week.

Emily Atkinson is second in the league and 50th in the NAIA with an average of 8.86 assists per set.  She has posted double digit assists in 21 consecutive matches and all 12 this year.  Atkinson has also posted five double-doubles this season.

Kyndall Kordakis has popped up 178 total digs and ranks fifth in the league with an average of 4.14 per set.  She has recorded double-digit digs 10 times this season.  Katie Vance leads the Griffins with 23 total blocks and her average of 0.55 per set ranks 12th in the Frontier.  Vance also has a team-best 17 service aces.

Game Coverage
Both games this week will be streamed live on Griffins TV.  Fans can access Griffins TV at WestminsterGriffins.com or at Livestream.com/griffins.  You can also find live stats for both games this week at WestminsterGriffins.com.  There is also a mobile version of the live stats.

This Week's Promotions
Thursday night is “Purple Out” Behnken Field House.  Fans are encouraged to wear purple and will receive 2-for-1 tickets if they do. There will be a serving contest at intermission for prizes.  On Saturday, anyone wearing Griffin apparel will receive a ticket for $1.

Friday's Opponent: Montana State-Northern
Montana State-Northern comes to SLC at 11-4 overall and first in the Frontier Conference at 3-0.  The Skylights have won seven straight matches, including a 3-2 win over Great Falls last Saturday.  The team hits .219 while averaging 9.8 kills per set.

Hillary Isleifson leads the team and ranks fifth in the Frontier at 2.8 kills per set while hitting .298.  She has seven matches with double-digit kills and had a season high 18 against York on Sept. 3.  Kelsey Williams has a team-best 16 service aces while Nahe Keanaaina has posted 421 assists to rank 50th in the NAIA.

Saturday's Opponent: Great Falls
Great Falls begins the week at 17-2 overall and 2-1 in the Frontier Conference.  The Argonauts had a 15-match winning streak snapped last Saturday with a 3-2 loss at MSU-Northern.  They are hitting .276 as a team while posting 13.13 kills per set which ranks 30th nationally.

Kelsey VanUden ranks 22nd in the NAIA in kills per set at 3.91 and her 227 total kills are the 13th-most in the nation.  VanUden hits .361 while her teammate Taylor Lucero is hitting .335.  Kyah Piva leads the team with 22 service aces and 253 digs.  Averi Pasma averages 5.9 assists per set while Maggie McCall has posted 48 total blocks.

Looking Back
Westminster picked up two wins last week and started with a 3-0 sweep at Montana Tech on Friday.  The Griffins then dropped Montana Western 3-1 on Saturday.

Westminster posted a balanced attack with six players recording at least four kills against Tech. The team held a 36-24 advantage in total kills with a .177 hitting efficiency.  The Griffins also recorded six service aces and four blocks while popping up 38 digs.

Kenzie Mitchell paced the Griffin attack with 10 kills while hitting .259 at Western.  Mitchell added nine digs, three service aces and three blocks to her attack.  Katie Vance contributes seven kills and five blocks with a .333 hitting efficiency.  Katy Waldie had six kills and Ashley Marchant and Alexis Aalona had five kills apiece.  Emily Atkinson recorded 35 assists and Kyndall Kordakis posted 21 digs.

Setting the Tone
Sophomore setter Emily Atkinson surpassed the 1,000 career assist total early this season. Atkinson now has 1,204 assists in her career and is just the third player in school history to topple the 1,000 assist plateau.  She is currently on pace to finish the year with 1,648 career assists which would move her into second place in school history.

Atkinson currently averages 8.86 assists per set to rank second in the league and 50th nationally.  Her 381 total assists place her fourth in the conference.  Atkinson is on pace for 825 assists this season and that would be the fourth-most for a season in school history.

On the Attack
Junior outside hitter Ashley Marchant is leading the team with 112 kills and is 21 kills shy of setting a new career high.  Her 112 kills rank 14th in the conference while her 2.6 kills per set average ranks seventh in the league.  She is hitting .169 while also adding a career high 112 digs.

Marchant has reached double figures in kills five times this season and matched a career high with 18 kills against Azusa Pacific on Sept. 3.  She has also posted seven matches with double-digit dogs and has five double-doubles.

Checking in with Kordakis
Sophomore libero Kyndall Kordakis is once again having a stellar year in the Westminster back row.  Kordakis has popped up 178 digs this season and averages 4.14 digs per set.  She is fifth in the league with that average and her 178 total digs is ninth in the Frontier.

At her current rate, Kordakis will finish they year with 385 total digs.  That total would rank seventh for a season in school history and be just shy of the 392 she recorded last season.  If she reaches the 385 that she is on pace for, her career total would hit 777 and rank fifth in school history for a career.

Climbing the Charts
Juniors Marchant and Stephanie Jones Morin continue to climb the Westminster career kill leader charts.  Jones Morin has racked up 349 career kills through action last Saturday and ranks seventh in school history in that category.  Marchant is right behind in eighth with her 334 career kills.  Marchant also ranks fifth in school history with an average of 2.09 kills per set.

Atkinson is first in school history with an average of 8.85 assists per set.  She is 430 assists shy of tying Leigha Dangerfield for second in school history for career assists at 1,634. Kordakis is currently seventh with 570 career digs and trails Angie Johnson is sixth by 83 digs.

Massey Ratings
Westminster currently ranks 51st in the Massey ratings that were released on Sunday.  The Griffins jumped four spots from the previous week and have played the 10th-toughest schedule according to the ratings.  They currently rank fifth among the eight teams 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.

Griffins Picked for Fourth
The Westminster College women's volleyball team was tabbed to finish fourth in the Frontier Conference by the league's coaches in their preseason poll, which was recently released.

The Griffins received 31 points in the poll to come in the same spot they ended the 2010 regular season. Lewis-Clark State received five of the eight first-place votes (coaches weren't allowed to vote for their own team) to finish with 46 points.

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. 

Looking Forward
Westminster travels to Idaho for two matches that begin with a Frontier Conference match against nationally ranked Lewis-Clark State on Sept. 30.  The Griffins then step out of league play for a match against the College of Idaho in Caldwell.