SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's volleyball team will spend the weekend in Butte, Mont. at the 2014 Frontier Conference Tournament. Westminster is the No. 6 seed at the event and they will face third-seeded Carroll (Mont.) in a quarterfinal match on Friday at 7 p.m. MT.
 
The tournament is being hosted by Montana Tech will all seven matches being played at Sampson Court. Friday will feature four quarterfinal matches with the semifinals and championship taking place on Saturday. Should the Griffins defeat Carroll, they would face the winner of Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) and Montana State-Northern at 1 p.m.
 
Every match of the conference tournament will be streamed live online through the Montana Tech web site. There will also be live stats available for all of the matches.
 
Griffin Notebook
Westminster finished the regular season at 10-17 overall and they went 4-8 in the Frontier to earn the No. 6 seed for this week's tournament. They dropped a pair of five-set matches to Lewis-Clark State and Montana Tech last weekend in the Behnken Field House.
 
The Griffins are averaging 12 kills per set on the season while they are hitting .174 as a team. They currently rank fourth in the conference with 1,263 kills. Westminster leads the league with 148 service aces and is second with an average of 1.41 aces per set.
 
Westminster is allowing the opposition to hit .183 while averaging 12 kills per set. They are giving up 1.3 aces per set while posting 16.1 digs per set this season. The Griffins record 1.81 blocks per set as a team which is sixth in the Frontier.
 
Alexis Aalona leads the team and is second in the Frontier with 364 kills and she is hitting .213. The senior average 3.47 kills per set and she also records 3.16 digs, 0.53 blocks, and 0.20 aces per set. Jessica Chellsen has added 231 kills while hitting .208 with Amara Culpepper going for 202 kills.
 
Taylor Gustafson leads all Griffins with 879 assists which is second in the Frontier Conference. She is tied with Jaden green for the team lead with 28 aces. Culpepper has recorded a team-best 80 blocks.
 
About Carroll
Carroll finished the regular season at 16-12 overall and they earned the No. 3 seed for the tournament with an 8-6 conference record. The Saints dropped their final two matches of the regular season and they split the two matches with the Griffins this season with each team winning at home. They rank third in the NAIA with an average of 2.61 blocks per set while averaging 12.59 kills and hitting .219. Paige Montgomery is 15th in the country in blocks per set at 1.17.
 
At the Frontier Tournament
The Griffins will be making a 12th appearance at the Frontier Conference Tournament and they have posted a 9-10 overall record at the event. They were champions of the 2005 tournament and the runner-up in 2006 and 2007. Last season, Westminster went out in the semifinals after defeating Carroll in three sets during the quarterfinals. They are 3-2 all-time against Carroll in the conference tournament.
 
Welcome to the Club
With 12 kills in the match against Rocky Mountain on Oct. 16, Alexis Aalona became the second player in school history to reach 1,000 kills for their career. The senior finished the regular season with 1,114 career kills and she ranks third in school history with an average of 2.76 kills per set. Aalona has 364 kills on the year which ranks sixth for a single season at Westminster and is second in the Frontier Conference.
 
Also Climbing the Digs Chart
Aalona has also moved into fourth-place in school history with 991 career digs. She is the first player in school history with 900 kills and 900 digs and she is nine digs shy of becoming just the fourth player to reach 1,000 career digs. Aalona has more digs than any other Griffin that didn't spend any time playing libero during their career. The senior has recorded a double-double in 12 consecutive matches and she has reached double-digit digs in 15 straight outings.
 
Big Year for Chellsen
Junior Jessica Chellsen has been a bright spot on the Westminster attack this season. The junior is currently second on the team with 211 kills and she is hitting .208. She averages 2.22 kills per set and has also recorded 35 blocks. Chellsen has been in double figures in the kills department in 12 matches, including a career-high 16 in the win over Evergreen (Wash.) on Aug. 22.
 
Leaving Her Mark
Alyse Horton is also making her way up the career charts at Westminster as she has moved into the top 12 in six career statistical categories. The junior is already 10th all-time in kills with 446 while placing ninth by averaging 1.55 kills per set. Her 236 digs this season has moved her to 12th in school history with 487 career digs and she is also 11th with 520.5 career points.
 
Running the Show
Freshman Taylor Gustafson has been at the center of the Griffin offense all season from her setter position. Gustafson is currently second in the conference with 879 assists and she has set the Griffin attack to an average of 12 kills per set. She currently ranks seventh in program history for assists in a season and she has the third-most assists by a freshman in team history.
 
Coming on Strong
Megan Gallegos has started to become a factor from her libero position. The freshman has recorded 342 digs on the season and her 3.53 digs per set average is good for seventh in the conference. After recording at least 10 digs in a match one time during the first 13 matches of the year, Gallegos has 14 straight matches in double figures. She has gone for 20-plus digs during eight of those outings, including a career-high 33 against MSU-Northern on Oct. 31.
 
Volleyball Blog
This season, Aalona and Horton will be writing a blog that chronicles the team's adventures throughout the 2014 campaign. A new post will be available each week with many including pictures from outside of the gym that are taken by members of the team. The blog can be found on the volleyball page of WestminsterGriffins.com.