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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's volleyball team hits the road for the final time this month for two games. They begin at Dickinson State (N.D.) on Thursday at 7 p.m. MDT in the team's first-ever trip to Dickinson. The Griffins then play at Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Saturday at 7 p.m. MDT.

Both matches will be streamed live on the web and have live stats available. Links for the live features can be found in the calendar section of WestminsterGriffins.com.

GRIFFIN NOTEBOOK
Westminster takes a 10-11 overall record with them this week. They are 4-4 at the halfway mark of the Frontier Conference slate. The Griffins have gone 2-4 in road games this season and 2-2 in league road games.

The Griffins average 11.96 kills per set while hitting .182 for the season. Over the past five matches they are hitting .223 and they post a .234 hitting efficiency in matches they have won this season. Westminster is fifth in the Frontier with 104 service aces with 21 of those coming in the past three outings.

Westminster is holding the opposition to .173 hitting efficiency and 11.7 kills per set. They have posted more kills than the opposition in 12 matches with a 9-3 record. The Griffins are 45th in the NAIA by averaging 2.01 blocks per set and they also collect 15.25 digs per set.

AGAINST THE OPPOSITION
Westminster claimed the only other meeting with Dickinson State. That was a 3-1 win at the Behnken Field House last season. The two teams will meet in Salt Lake City on Oct. 24.

Rocky Mountain leads the all-time series with the Griffins 13-9 despite Westminster taking a 3-0 sweep at the Behnken Field House last Friday. That was the second straight win by the Griffins in the series dating back to last season. Rocky is 6-3 against the Griffins in Billings and has won five straight home matches in the series.

AALONA ON THE ATTACK
Outside hitter Alexis Aalona is averaging 2.9 kills per set to rank sixth in the Frontier Conference. She has been the team leader in kills in 14 matches and 12 times reached double figures in kills. Aalona matched her career high with 23 kills in the loss at Montana Tech. She has 628 kills in her career to rank fifth in school history while her 241 kills this season is 12th-best for a single season at Westminster.

Aalona also leads the team with eight double-doubles and is second on the team with 216 digs. She has been in double figures in digs in 11 matches. The junior is 10th in school history with 522 career digs.

ALL ABOUT ATKINSON
Senior Emily Atkinson has recorded 630 assists this season and she is second in the Frontier with an average of 7.59 assists per set. In the match against Cornerstone (Mich.), Atkinson became the Westminster career leader in assists as she notched her 2,810th career assist. She enters this weekend with 3,366 career helpers.

Atkinson ranks third on the team with 154 digs and she has posted four double-doubles. She has been in double figures in digs during four matches, including a season-high 15 at Montana Western. Atkinson leads the team with 28 service aces and became the Westminster all-time leader in that category against Rocky Mountain on Oct. 11. She begins this week's action with 109 career aces while her 28 for the current season is tied for 14th-most at Westminster.

DIGGING WITH KORDAKIS
Senor libero Kyndall Kordakis has notched 411 digs on the season to sit tops in the Frontier and 31st in the NAIA. Her average of 4.95 digs per set in second in the league and 36th nationally. She has been the team leader in digs in all 21 matches the team has played and 10 times she has reached 20 digs.

Kordakis now has 1,711 digs in her Westminster career and she ranks second in school history on that category. Riet holds the all-time lead with 1,712 digs which means Kordakis needs to just one dig to become the all-time leader. She is also 89 digs shy of becoming the third player in school history to record 500 digs in a season.

REJECTED BY RAMIREZ
Junior Mayra Ramirez has recorded 79 blocks this season and she is averaging 0.96 blocks per set to rank fourth in the Frontier. Ramirez has led or tied for the team lead in blocks during 14 matches and she has totaled at least five blocks in seven matches. Her 70 blocks this season rank eighth in school history for a single season and 70 block assists places fifth for a season.

Ramirez has also been efficient on the offensive end. She leads the squad with a .266 hitting efficiency while averaging 2.05 kills per set. Ramirez was named to the Julie Martin Memorial Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging 1.86 kills and 0.86 blocks per set during the four matches. She hit .231 during the weekend and also picked up six digs.

NORMAN NEARING 150
Head Coach Kim Norman is in her 10th season as the head coach of the women's volleyball team at Westminster in 2013. During that time, Norman has guided the Griffins to a 145-139 overall record and a .511 winning percentage. The team has four winning seasons and has gone 79-56 (.585) in Frontier Conference play while winning regular season titles in 2005 and 2006.

FRONTIER CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The 2013 Frontier Conference Tournament will take place Nov. 14-16 at the McLaughlin Center on the University of Great Falls campus. All nine team will qualify for the event with the opening round between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds being played at 5 p.m. on the 14th. Four quarterfinals matches are slated for Nov. 15 with the semi-finals and championship taking place on Nov. 16.

If the tournament started today, Westminster would be the No. 6 seed and face Rocky Mountain in a quarterfinal match at 7 p.m. The Griffins are currently tied for fourth, but fall to sixth due to tiebreaking scenarios.  Montana State-Northern is currently the conference leader after going 8-0 in the first half of conference action.

FOLLOWING THE GRIFFINS
To keep up with all of the latest news and information about the Westminster women's volleyball team, fans are encouraged to "Like" the Griffins on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. And as always, make sure to visit
WestminsterGriffins.com for all things Griffins during the 2013 season.

LOOKING AHEAD
Westminster returns home for four consecutive games in the Behnken Field House. They play host to Dickinson State on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. MDT before facing Carroll (Mont.) on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. MDT.