Box Score BOX SCORE

SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to Carroll College in Thursday night's home opener at the Behnken Field House.  The match was the Frontier Conference opener for both schools.

Westminster drops to 3-6 overall and 0-1 in the conference with the 26-28, 25-19, 17-25, 19-25 loss.  Carroll improves to 8-3 and 1-0.

The opening set was a thriller that featured 10 ties and six lead changes.  Westminster opened the set with an 8-2 run that featured two Emily Atkinson service aces and two Ashley Marchant kills.  Carroll responded with a 5-0 run of their own and eventually took a 10-9 lead.  The Griffins would again open up a slight lead at 19-14 before Carroll would again even the score at 23-23.  Marchant recorded her fifth kill of the set to give the Griffins set points at 25-24 only to watch the visitors rally for the 28-26 win.

Westminster forced the issue in much of the second stanza, this time rushing out to an 11-4 advantage.  Carroll would get back to within 16-14 before Kenzie Mitchell posted a kill followed by a Katie Vance service ace and an Alexis Aalona kill for a 19-14 Griffin lead.  Both teams would record a run of three points before they split the final four points to give the Griffins the 25-19 win.

It was Carroll that started the third set on a roll.  The Saints jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead after the intermission.  The griffins would get back to within two at 10-8 but, Carroll then posted a 7-1 lead to take control of the set.  Westminster couldn't get closer than five the rest of the way and Carroll took a 2-1 lead with the 25017 win.

The fourth set featured 14 ties and another six lead changes.  Both teams were scoring two points in a row until the Saints turned a 10-9 disadvantage into a 14-10 lead.  The Griffins wouldn't go away and rallied with a 5-1 run to get even at 15-15.  With the score 18-18, Carroll then took control and finished the match on a 7-1 run; for the victory.

Westminster finished the night with 46 kills and hit .115.  They were stellar at the service line, posting nine service aces while only allowing four aces by Carroll.  The Griffins also picked up 58 digs to go with seven blocks.

Marchant recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 14 digs.  The junior hit .312 in the match while also recording three blocks.  Aalona came off the bench to post a career high 10 kills while hitting .316.  She also contributed five blocks and two digs.  Atkinson had 34 assists and Kyndall Kordakis popped up 16 digs.

Kristin Telin led Carroll with 13 kills on a .375 hitting night.  Markki Otteson added 12 kills while hitting .391 and had seven blocks.

Westminster will return to action on Saturday when they host No. 14 Rocky Mountain College.  The action will begin at 2 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.