SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's volleyball team opens Frontier Conference play with two home matches this week.  The Griffins begin against Carroll College on Thursday at 7 p.m. before facing No. 14 Rocky Mountain on Saturday at 2 p.m.  Both matches will be played in the Behnken Field House.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster begins conference play after posting a 3-5 record during the first two tournament of the year.  All five losses have come against teams ranked in the NAIA preseason top 25.  They enter the week riding a two-game losing streak and have been defeated in five of the last six matches.

Ashley Marchant leads the offensive attack with 82 kills and averages 2.83 kills per set.  She ranks third in the conference in average kills while also ranking eighth in digs per set at 3.1.  Kenzie Mitchell has recorded 65 kills with a .220 hitting efficiency to start the year.  Stephanie Jones Morin leads all Griffin hitters with a .271 hitting efficiency.

Kyndall Kordakis anchors the defense and averages 4.14 digs per set.  Her average is third-best in the league while her 120 total digs is fifth.  Katie Vance is posting 0.59 blocks per set to rank eighth in the Frontier and her 17 total blocks is 12th most.

Emily Atkinson is second in the conference with an average of 9.17 assists per set.  The sophomore setter has 266 total assists and ranks second in the league and 26th nationally in the department.
Game Coverage
Both games this week will be available to watch live on the web at Griffins TV. The stream begins approximately 15 minutes before the first serve and can be found at WestminsterGriffins.com of Livestream.com/griffins.

Live Stats will also be available for both games on the schedule.  The stats feed can be accessed at WestminsterGriffins.com with a mobile version also available.

Promotions
On Thursday, fans wearing Griffins apparel will receive $3 admission with the first 100 fans through the door receiving a free window decal.  There will be a serving contest for prizes during intermission.

Saturday, anyone under the age of 13 receives free admission and a volleyball schedule poster.  After the match all youth can serve, dig and spike on the court with official Griffin volleyballs.

Friday's Opponent: Carroll College
Carroll enters conference play with a 7-3 overall record.  They started the year with six straight victories before dropping three of four at the Asics/Crowne Plaza Labor Day Tournament last weekend.  The Saints average 2.46 blocks per set and rank 19th in the NAIA in that department.

Markki Otteson leads the team with 89 kills while Elli Graff has recorded 86 kills.  Graff has 48 total blocks on the year to lead the Frontier and rank fourth in the NAIA.  Maureen Frauenholtz averages a league-best 4.86 digs per set.

Saturday's Opponent: Rocky Mountain College
Rocky Mountain begins league play ranked No. 14 after an 11-2 non-conference slate.  The Battlin' Bears opened the year with 11 consecutive wins before dropping their last two matches.  During that stretch they beat ranked foes in No. 5 Biola and No. 9 Concordia (Calif.).

Sara Brunner has recorded a team-best 145 kills while averaging 3.45 per set.  Brunner is hitting .268 through the first 13 matches of the season.  Jillian Bates has added 105 kills and 39 blocks.  Krisitn Barrott leads the Frontier with 414 assists and averages 9.86 per set.

Looking Back
Westminster finished 1-3 at the Asics/Crowne Plaza Labor Day Tournament in Irvine, Calif. over the weekend.  They split matches on Friday, losing to No. 5 Biola in three and then picking up a 3-1 win over San Diego Christian.  Saturday saw the Griffins drop a 3-0 decision against No. 1 Fresno Pacific and then suffer a 3-1 loss against No. 6 Azusa Pacific.

Let's Go Digging
Westminster has posted some big numbers in the dig department to start the year.  The Griffins have 475 digs through the first eight matches and are currently averaging 16.4 digs per set.  That is third-best in the Frontier Conference and would rank as the fourth-best average in school history.

Libero Kyndall Kordakis is off to a fast start defensively.  The 5-4 sophomore already has 120 digs and her 4.14 per set is second-best in the Frontier.  Ashley Marchant is also having a great year defensively.  The 5-10 junior is averaging 3.14 digs per set and her 91 total digs are 10 shy of her career high.

Setting the Tone
Sophomore setter Emily Atkinson surpassed the 1,000 career assist total over the weekend.  Atkinson now has 1,089 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 1,654 career assists which would move her into second place in school history.

Atkinson currently averages 9.5 assists per set to rank second in the league and 32nd nationally.  Her 266 total assists place her second in the conference and 26th in the NAIA.

Massey Ratings
The latest edition of the Massey Ratings has the Griffins rated as the No. 46 team in the country.  Westminster has a rating of 0.451 and sit fifth among teams from the Frontier Conference.  According to the ratings, Westminster has played the 16th toughest schedule in the NAIA.

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 will return to the road for the first Frontier Conference road trip of the season.  The team faces Montana Tech in Butte, Mont. on Sept. 16 before a Sept. 17 match against Montana Western in Dillon, Mont.  The Griffins return to the Behnken Field House on Sept. 22 when they welcome Montana State-Northern.