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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Westminster women's volleyball team opens the 2014 season with a trip to Spokane, Wash. to play five matches at the Sports Travel Northwest Invitational. All matches of the event will be played at the HUB Sports Center.

The Griffins begin the trip with a pair of matches on Thursday against Walla Walla (Wash.) and Eastern Oregon. They play matches on Friday against Evergreen (Wash.) and Simpson (Calif.) before closing out the event on Saturday with a match versus Northwest (Wash.).

GRIFFIN NOTEBOOK
Westminster will enter the opening weekend under first-year head coach Al Givens who was named head coach on January 7. Givens enters his 29th season overall as a head coach at the collegiate level.

Givens takes over a team that returns just four players from the 2013 squad that finished 17-14 overall and reached the semifinals of the Frontier Conference Tournament. The Griffins welcome 10 newcomers into the fold in 2014, with nine of those incoming being a freshman.

Alexis Aalona is the lone senior on this year's roster. The outside hitter from Salt Lake City was named first team all-conference in 2013 after leading the Griffins with 363 kills while hitting .202.

About Walla Walla
Walla Walla begins its final year of NAIA independence before joining the Cascade Collegiate Conference in 2015. They finished 2013 with an overall record of 5-11.

About Eastern Oregon
The Eastern Oregon volleyball team looks a bit different this year than last year. There are nine new faces on this years' team and five returners. Five of the newcomers are prep standouts and four are transfers. One of the returners is CCC Player of the Year, Casey Loper, who led the Mountaineers in kills with 394 last season.

About Evergreen
Evergeen heads to Spokane to begin the season after finishing 8-15 last season. The Geoducks were picked to finish sixth in the competitive Cascade Collegiate Conference. Evergreen returns three starters this season, including senior Molly King, senior middle Brandee Victorino and junior setter Kelsey Delagrange.

About Simpson
Simpson will begin their season in Spokane after completing an 8-16 season in 2013. The Red Hawks roster features three seniors under the direction of second-year head coach Thomas Kirst.

About Northwest
Northwest travels to Spokane to begin the season and looking to improve on their 7-21 record from 2013. The Eagles were picked to finish seventh in the Cascade Conference and they feature a roster of three seniors.

What's Returning for the Griffins
With only four players returning in 2014, Westminster has a lot of holes to fill. While they may be inexperienced overall, the Griffins do return starting outside hitters Aalona and Alyse Horton. They also welcome back the No. 3 outside from last season in Jessica Chellsen and back-up opposite hitter, Rachel Enloe. The chart below shows how much those four contributed to the team's total in 2013.
 

Inside the Numbers
Category	2013 Total	2014 Returners	% Returning
Kills	1,496	619	41.4%
Assists	1,369	41	3.0%
Aces	145	29	20.0%
Digs	1,926	606	31.5%
Blocks	252.5	65.0	25.7%
Points	1893.5	714	37.7%

Trending Upwards
Since winning just nine matches in 2008, Westminster has seen its win total equal or improve over the previous season every year since. They have reached double-digit wins in four-straight seasons and the 17 wins last season ranks as the third-most in school history.

Aalona Racking up Kills
Aalona will enter her senior season in 2014 ranked fifth in school history with 750 career kills. The first team all-conference performer established a new career high with 363 kills last season and finished sixth in the Frontier Conference in that category. Aalona would need to average 8.9 kills per match this season to become just the second player in school history to reach 1,000 kills for their career.
 

Westminster Career Kills Leaders
1.	1,497	Angie Johnson	2005-07
2.	989	Alison Culp	2006-08
3.	786	Ericka Evans	2007-10
4.	773	Ashley Marchant	2009-12
5.	750	Alexis Aalona	2011-14

Also climbing the digs chart
Aalona also ranks in the top 10 in career digs with 659 through 2013. She tallied a career-best 353 digs last season and that total again in 2014 would make her the fourth player in school history to reach 1,000 career digs. Aalona needs 150 kills and 241 digs to become the first player in school history with 900 of each.
 

Westminster Career Digs Leaders
1.	1,937	Kyndall Kordakis	2010-13
2.	1,712	Bree Riet	2005-07
3.	1,225	Tahnie Blymiller	2006-07,09
4.	912	Emily Atkinson	2010-13
5.	870	Alison Culp	2006-08
6.	832	Ericka Evans	2007-10
7.	733	Ashley Marchant	2009-12
8.	694	Monica Shorts	2005-07
9.	659	Alexis Aalona	2011-14

Horton on the rise
Horton will look to establish herself as the clear No. 2 outside hitter this season after recording a career-best 174 kills last season. The junior played in all 31 matches in 2013 and hit .155 for the year. She also picked up 165 digs and 14 service aces as a sophomore.

Big Spot for Chellsen
Junior Jessica Chellsen will look to see her role expand in 2014 after she appeared in 30 matches (seven starts) last season. Chellsen finished the year with 74 kills and hit .134 for the season.

More Time for Enloe
Rachel Enloe should also see more playing time during this season. The junior played in just 13 matches a year ago as she recovered from off-season surgery. Enloe totaled eight kills and added five blocks during the year.

Looking Ahead
Next week, the Griffins make their annual trip to Irvine, Calif. to participate in the Asics/Wyndham Labor Day Classic which is hosted by Concordia (Calif.). Westminster will play two matches on both Aug. 29 and 30.