SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's volleyball team will wrap-up the 2014 regular season with a pair of Frontier Conference matches in the Behnken Field House. Westminster welcomes Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) to town on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT. They will then face Montana Tech on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the final home match for senior Alexis Aalona.
 
The Griffins will honor Aalona in a ceremony between sets 2 and 3 of the Montana Tech match.
 
Both matches will be broadcast live on Griffins TV with Lance Barton (play-by-play) and Brittani Barton (analyst). Griffins TV is available online and on mobile devices and Roku players through the Livestream app. There will also be live stats available for the two matches.
 
Griffin Notebook
Westminster begins the final week of the regular season at 10-15 overall and 4-8 in the Frontier Conference. They are currently tied with Montana Tech for the fifth position in the conference race. The Griffins have dropped three straight matches after losses at Montana State-Northern and Great Falls (Mont.) last weekend.
 
The Griffins are averaging 12.06 kills per set on the season while they are hitting .176 as a team. They currently rank fifth in the conference in kills and kills per set. Westminster leads the league with 138 service aces and with an average of 1.45 aces per set.
 
Westminster is allowing the opposition to hit .184 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 1.78 blocks per set as a team which is sixth in the Frontier.
 
Aalona leads the team and is second in the Frontier with 327 kills and she is hitting .215. The senior average 3.44 kills per set and she also records 3.09 digs, 0.56 blocks, and 0.21 aces per set. Jessica Chellsen has added 211 kills while hitting .200 with Amara Culpepper going for 185 kills and a team-high .222 hitting.
 
Taylor Gustafson leads all Griffins with 809 assists which is third in the Frontier Conference. Jaden Green has a team-best 27 aces while Culpepper has recorded 64 blocks to rank ninth in the league.
 
About Lewis-Clark State
Lewis-Clark State comes to town at 15-8 overall this season and they are second in the conference with a 9-3 record. The Warriors have won seven of their past eight contests and they need one win to secure the No. 2 seed for next week's conference tournament. They are 35th in the NAIA by averaging 12.69 kills per set with Desiree Nielson hitting .300 to place 46th in the country.
 
About Montana Tech
Montana Tech begins the final week of the regular season at 9-15 overall and 4-8 in the Frontier. The Orediggers have dropped three straight matches and five of the last six, including a five-set loss to the Griffins on Oct. 4 in Butte, Mont. They are currently 33rd in the country by hitting .215 as a team. Kimmy Kavran is 33rd in the nation by averaging 5.24 digs per set.
 
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 enters this week with 1,077 career kills and she ranks third in school history with an average of 2.74 kills per set. Aalona has 327 kills on the year which ranks seventh for a single season at Westminster and ranks second in the Frontier Conference.
 
Also Climbing the Digs Chart
Aalona has also moved into fourth-place in school history with 953 career digs. She is the first player in school history with 900 kills and 900 digs and she still has an outside shot at becoming the fourth player to reach 1,000 career digs. Aalona has 294 digs this season and she would need to average 15.67 digs per set over the three reaming scheduled matches to become the first Griffin with 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
 
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 .200. She averages 2.24 kills per set and has also recorded 33 blocks. Chellsen has been in double figures in the kills department in 10 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 434 while placing ninth by averaging 1.54 kills per set. Her 234 digs this season has moved her to 12th in school history with 485 career digs and she is also 11th with 508 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 third in the conference with 809 assists and she has set the Griffin attack to an average of 12.06 kills per set. She currently ranks eighth in program history for assists in a season and she has the fourth-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 299 digs on the season and her 3.44 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 12 straight matches in double figures. She has gone for 20-plus digs during seven of those outings, including a career-high 33 against MSU-Northern on Oct. 31. Since becoming the starting libero on Sept. 13 at Carroll, Gallegos is averaging 5.30 digs per set and leads the team with 233 digs.
 
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.
 
Frontier Conference Tournament
Next week the Griffins will travel to Butt, Mont. for the Frontier Conference Tournament. The event begins on Nov. 7 with the four quarterfinal matches at Sampson Court. The semifinals take place on the afternoon of Nov. 8 with the championship match slated for 7 p.m. MT that night.