SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's volleyball team will travel to Irvine, Calif. this weekend for the Asics/Wyndham Hotel Labor Day Tournament hosted by Concordia (Calif.) University. Westminster will play four matches at the tournament against teams from the Golden State Athletic Conference, including three that are ranked in the NAIA Preseason Top 25.
The Griffins will open the weekend with a match against The Master's College on Friday at noon before playing No. 5 Biola at 6 p.m. that evening. Saturday's action starts at 10 a.m. with a match against No. 24 Westmont. Westminster will wrap up the trip versus No. 2 Concordia at 6 p.m. on Saturday. All four matches will be played in CU Arena on the Concordia campus.
Griffin Notebook
Westminster is off to the best start in school history with a current record of 6-1. The previous best start was a 5-2 mark set in 2007. That is the only year that Westminster has qualified for the NAIA National Championships and the only other time the Griffins have been above .500 through the first seven games of the season.
Westminster will enter the weekend riding a 3-match winning streak. In their six wins this season, they have picked up three sweeps while winning once in four sets and two other times in a decisive fifth set. The Griffins are a perfect 5-0 this season when they win the first set and 6-0 if they win one of the first two frames.
The team is also off to a hot start offensively. Westminster currently leads the Frontier Conference with an average of 12.44 kills per set and rank third with a .228 hitting efficiency. They also have dominated matches at the service line where they average 2.37 service aces per set to lead the league and rank 16th in the NAIA.
Ashley Marchant has been the catalyst of the offense early in the year. The senior outside hitter is averaging 2.81 kills per set to rank fifth in the conference. She has gone for a double-digit kill total in a team-high three matches this season and is hitting .299. Her 76 kills rank 10th in the Frontier and 33rd in the NAIA. Marchant is also off to a fast start at the service line with 13 aces to tie for the team lead and rank second in the conference.
Katie Vance is currently second on the team with 47 kills and leads the team with her .311 hitting efficiency. She also leads the way with 16 blocks, including nine in the Griffins win over Colorado Mesa last Friday.
Alexis Aalona has recorded 43 kills and eight service aces.
Emily Atkinson is second in the Frontier with 259 assists and ranks 24th in the NAIA at 9.59 per set. She is tied with Marchant with 13 aces.
Kyndall Kordakis has 116 digs and is third in the Frontier at 4.3 per set.
About the Opposition
The Griffins four opponents this weekend have combined to go 25-1 to start the season. The Master's has started 6-0 with key wins over Cal State San Marcos and Lewis-Clark State. Biola is off to a 7-1 start with their only loss coming to a Southern Oregon team that Westminster defeated. Westmont is 4-0 this season and they have recorded two wins over Frontier Conference teams. Concordia has put an 8-0 start on the board, picking up five wins over team from the Frontier.
Against the Opposition
Westminster is familiar with the teams they will face this weekend. The Griffins have played this group of team a total of 18 times in history, posting a record of 5-13 in those contests. They earned wins over Biola and Westmont on the same day at this tournament in 2010.
