Box Score BOX SCORE

SALT LAKE CITY – It took five sets and career highs across the board but, the Westminster College women's volleyball team pulled out a five-set battle against Montana State-Northern on Thursday night in the Behnken Field House.  The match featured 25 ties, 11 lead changes and two sets going extra points.

Westminster overcame deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 for the 24-26, 25-18, 26-28, 25-21, 15-10 victory and improve to 6-7 overall and 3-2 in the Frontier Conference.  Northern drops to 11-5 and 3-1.

Westminster finished the night with a season high 69 kills while hitting .199.  They also set a season high with 62 assists while also collecting 78 digs and five blocks.  They held Northern to just .118 hitting efficiency which is a full 100 points below their season average.

Katie Vance was the star of the night for the Griffins.  The sophomore middle blocker racked up a career high 17 kills while also hitting a career-best .481.  Those 17 kills are the second-most by a Griffin this season as is the .481 efficiency.  Vance also picked up four digs, one service aces and one block.

Stephanie Jones Morin and Ashley Marchant finished with 11 kills apiece while Alexis Aalona added 10.  Jones Morin hit .206 and Marchant and Aalona each posted a double-double.  Marchant added 14 digs with Aalona going for 10 digs and four blocks.  The 10 kills for Aalona match a career high while the 10 digs set a new personal best.  Emily Atkinson recorded a personal best and high for the Frontier Conference this season with 57 assists.

Hillary Isleifson led two Skylights in double figures in kills with 13.  She hit .258 on the night with eight digs and four blocks.  Kelsey Williams recorded 12 kills and 13 digs and Nortehrn had 78 digs as a team.

The Griffins got off to a slow start in the match and quickly found themselves behind 9-3 in the opening set.  They would continue to attack throughout the set and a block by Aalona and Kenzie Mitchell cut the Northern lead to 17-15.  After three straight points by the visitors, Westminster used a 7-2 run to level the set at 22-22.  After each team traded the next four points, Northern got kills from Lynnsie Togiai and Williams to win the set.

After giving up the first three points of the second set, Westminster went again applied the pressure and opened up a 13-9 cushion on one of Vance's five kills in the set.  A mini 5-2 run would build the lead to 18-12.  Vance would collect three kills in the final seven points for the Griffins and lead them to the win.

Errors were the theme of the third set for the Griffins.  After hitting a staggering .357 with only one hitting error in the second frame, the Griffins managed 12 hitting errors in set three and only hit .070.  Those errors helped Northern turn an 11-4 deficit into an 18-17 lead.  After both teams continued to trade points, Ashley Marchant would serve for the set at 25-24 but, a kill from Isleifson would extend the match and eventually get Northern the set.

Westminster again found themselves trailing early in the fourth set and Northern jumped out to an early 8-2 lead.  The Griffins responded with a 7-2 run to get within one at 10-9 behind back-to-back kills from Aalona.  Westminster would take the lead at 16-15 and used four hitting errors and two service errors by Northern to carry them to the fourth set victory.

The fifth set belonged to the Griffins and they raced out to a quick 7-3 advantage.  Mitchell had two of her four kills in the set during that initial push and to take the momentum of the match.  Northern used a 5-1 run in the middle of the stanza to get to within 11-9 before Vance finished off the night with two kills.

Westminster will look to continue this three-match winning streak when they face Great Falls on Saturday.  The match is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.