DILLON, Mont. – The Westminster women's volleyball team began its final road trip of the regular season with a five-set loss at Montana Western in a Frontier Conference match at Straugh Gymnasium on Friday night.
 
Westminster falls to 10-13 overall on the season and 4-6 in the conference with the 25-20, 25-27, 23-25, 25-19, 11-15 loss. With the win, Montana Western moves to 10-12 overall and 2-8 in the league.
 
The Griffins came out strong with 12 kills and .218 hitting in the first set win. They would then find themselves trailing for much of the second set before posting a 5-0 run to take a 22-20 advantage. Montana Western would close the set with seven of the final nine points to level the match.
 
The third set was another tight battle with the two teams trading leads throughout. Westminster again seemed posied to win the set as they led 23-22, but the Bulldogs used a pair of kills from Brea Mitchell and a block by Bailey Wilson to score the final three points and take a 2-1 lead.
 
Westminster dominated the fourth set as they put up 13 kills while limiting the home squad to only eight. The Griffins jumped out to a 6-1 lead and they never looked back in the frame as they pushed the lead to 21-12 at one point. The two teams would trade points early in the fifth, being tied 10-10 on the ninth tie of the set. Montana Western would close out the match with a 5-1 run behind three kills and two Griffin attack errors.
 
The Griffins would finish the night with 59 kills and they hit .151. They held UMW to 51 kills while limiting the Bulldogs to .109 hitting. Westminster recorded five service aces along with 99 digs and seven blocks.
 
Alexis Aalona led three Griffins in double figures with 23 kills. The senior also recorded 24 digs for her eighth straight double-double. Aalona hit .389 in the match while also recording an ace and three blocks. Alyse Horton added 13 kills and 11 digs while Jessica Chellsen finished with 11 kills.
 
Mitchell led UMW with 13 kills on .423 hitting and Breanne Kelley had 12 kills. Kendra Mendicino led all players with 31 digs in the match.
 
Westminster will now have a week off before returning to action on Oct. 31 when they travel to Havre, Mont. for a match at Montana State-Northern.