Complete Release | PDF

SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's volleyball team returns to the Behnken Field House to begin a stretch of four straight matches at home. Westminster will welcome Dickinson State (N.D.) to town on Thursday at 7 p.m. MDT before facing Carroll (Mont.) on Saturday at 2 p.m. MDT.

Both matches will be carried live on Griffins TV and on Comcast 6 in northern Utah. Lance Barton will handle the play-by-play duties with former Griffin Brittani Barton as the analyst. Links for the live features can be found in the calendar section of WestminsterGriffins.com. Griffins TV can also be found on Roku players by downloading the Livestream app and searching Griffins.

GRIFFIN NOTEBOOK
Westminster returns home at 11-12 on the season and 5-5 in the Frontier Conference. They have gone 5-3 at home this season and 2-2 in home Frontier matches. The Griffins have alternated wins and losses over the past four matches and they haven't doped two straight since Sept. 19 and 21.

The Griffins average 12.12 kills per set while hitting .187 for the season. Over the past seven matches they are hitting .228 and they post a .242 hitting efficiency in matches they have won this season. Westminster is fifth in the Frontier with 110 service aces with 27 of those coming in the past three outings.

Westminster is holding the opposition to .170 hitting efficiency and 11.5 kills per set. They have posted more kills than the opposition in 14 matches with a 10-4 record. The Griffins are averaging 1.89 blocks per set and they also collect 15.69 digs per set.

AGAINST THE OPPOSITION
Westminster has won the previous two meetings with Dickinson State, including a 3-1 win on the road last Thursday. The Griffins won in four sets during last season's match in Salt Lake City.

Carroll holds a 17-8 edge in the all-time series against the Griffins after taking a five-set win last month in Helena. Westminster trails 4-7 in games in Salt Lake City and they have lost 10 of the last 11 meetings overall.

AALONA ON THE ATTACK
Outside hitter Alexis Aalona is averaging 2.84 kills per set to rank sixth in the Frontier Conference. She has been the team leader in kills in 15 matches and 13 times reached double figures in kills. Aalona matched her career high with 23 kills in the loss at Montana Tech. She has 643 kills in her career to rank fifth in school history while her 256 kills this season is tied for 11th-best for a single season at Westminster.

Aalona also leads the team with nine double-doubles and is second on the team with 260 digs. She has been in double figures in digs in 13 matches with back-to-back 20-dig matches last weekend. The junior is 10th in school history with 566 career digs.

ALL ABOUT ATKINSON
Senior Emily Atkinson has recorded 694 assists this season and she is second in the Frontier with an average of 7.71 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 3,430 career helpers.

Atkinson ranks third on the team with 169 digs and she has posted five double-doubles. She has been in double figures in digs during five matches, including a season-high 15 at Montana Western. Atkinson is second among all Griffins with 29 service aces and became the Westminster all-time leader in that category against Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Oct. 11. She begins this week's action with 110 career aces while her 29 for the current season is tied for 14th-most at Westminster.

DIGGING WITH KORDAKIS
Senor libero Kyndall Kordakis has notched 450 digs on the season to sit second in the Frontier and 35th in the NAIA. Her average of 5.0 digs per set in second in the league and 31st nationally. She has been the team leader in digs in 22 matches the team has played and 11 times she has reached 20 digs.

Kordakis used 12 digs at Dickinson State on Oct. 17 to reach 1,713 in her career and surpass Bree Riet as the Westminster all-time leader. Kordakis enters the weekend with 1,750 career digs in 100 matches played. Her 450 digs this season ranks fourth in school history for a single season and she is 50 shy of becoming the third Griffin to reach 500 for a season.

REJECTED BY RAMIREZ
Junior Mayra Ramirez has recorded a team-best 80 blocks this season and she is averaging 0.91 blocks per set to rank fifth 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 80 blocks this season rank eighth in school history for a single season and 71 block assists places fifth for a season.

Ramirez has also been efficient on the offensive end. She leads the squad with a .285 hitting efficiency while averaging 2.15 kills per set. In conference matches, Ramirez is averaging 2.65 kills per set and hitting .315 with 25 blocks. 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 146-140 overall record and a .510 winning percentage. The team has four winning seasons and has gone 80-57 (.584) 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 with a perfect 10-0 mark.

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 closes out the home slate with a pair of games. They face Great Falls (Mont.) on Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. MDT before a 2 p.m. MDT contest with Montana State-Northern for Senior Day on Nov. 2.