SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's volleyball team remains at home this week as they host a pair of Frontier Conference matches in the Behnken Field House. On Thursday, the Griffins host defending Frontier regular season champion Montana State-Northern for a 7 p.m. MT match. They then face Great Falls (Mont.) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
Both matches will be broadcast live on Griffins TV which is available online and through the Livestream app on mobile devices and Roku players. It will also be carried on Comcast 6 in northern Utah. Live stats will also be available for the matches.
 
Griffin Notebook
Westminster heads into this week's matches at 7-9 overall this season and 1-2 in the Frontier Conference. They snapped a three-match losing streak with a 3-1 win over Montana Western last Friday night in the Behnken Field House. That is the Griffins only home match of the season.
 
The Griffins are averaging 11.7 kills per set on the year while hitting .174 as a team. They have totaled at least 40 kills in a match 11 times with five matches hitting at least 50 kills. Westminster also records 1.5 service aces per set and they have hit at least five aces in a match on 10 occasions.
 
Westminster limits the opposition to .193 hitting while holding them to 12.1 kills per set. The Griffins average 14.8 digs per set while also posting 1.8 blocks per frame. The opposition records 1.4 aces per set.
 
Alexis Aalona is tops on the squad with 181 kills and she ranks third in the conference by posting 3.08 kills per set while also hitting .188. Jessica Chellsen has used her .228 hitting to notch 125 kills on the year and Amara Culpepper has 113 kills and is hitting .243.
 
Taylor Gustafson leads all Griffins with 458 assists which is third in the Frontier Conference. Jaden Green has a team-best 18 aces while Alyse Horton leads the Griffins with 169 digs. Culpepper has recorded 46 blocks to rank seventh in the league.
 
About Montana State-Northern
Montana State-Northern comes to Salt Lake City at 4-13 overall this season and 0-4 in the conference. The Sky Lights have dropped six-straight matches and are 0-2 in road matches this season. They average 10.03 kills per set and are hitting .114. Dayna Jensen leads the team with 176 kills while Erin Jensen is hitting .211 with 130 kills. Jessica Wilcox has a team-high 40 blocks and Sydney Stolearcius is tops with 237 digs.
 
About Great Falls
Great Falls enters the week at 10-8 overall and they sit at 1-3 in the conference. The Argonauts split two matches last week at home, defeating Carroll (Mont.) before falling to top-ranked Rocky Mountain (Mont.). They rank 48th in the NAIA by hitting .205 and sit 16th by recording 2.28 blocks per set. Madison Wilhelm leads the team with 186 kills and Alyssa McEwan is 17th in the country with her .344 hitting percentage. Dani Norling has 493 assists on the year and sits 45th in the NAIA in that category.
 
Top 10 Upset
Westminster's thrilling five-set win over then-No. 8 Biola on Aug. 29 was the team's first win over a top-10 ranked team since 2010 and only the fourth all-time. While it was only the 10th win over a ranked team in school history, it was the second in the previous four opportunities for the Griffins. The victory also snapped a three-match losing streak to the Eagles and kept the Griffins perfect in five set matches this season. This week, Westminster will face the nation's No. 1-ranked team for the ninth time in school history. The only win over the top-ranked team was a 3-1 decision over National American on Aug. 25, 2007.
 

Westminster All-Time Top-10 Wins
Aug 24, 2007	#6 Albertson	W, 3-2
Aug 25, 2005	#1 National American	W, 3-1
Sept 4, 2010	vs #6 Biola	W, 3-0
Aug 29, 2014	vs #8 Biola	W, 3-2

Aalona Racking up Kills
With 181 kills in this season, Alexis Aalona moved has from fifth to third in all-time kills in Westminster history while also becoming just the third Griffin to reach 900 kills in a career. Aalona has recorded 931 kills for her career as she looks to become the second player in school history to 1,000 in their career. At the teams current pace, Aalona needs to average 1.56 kills per set to hit the 1,000 plateau.
 

Westminster Career Kills Leaders
1.	1,497	Angie Johnson	2005-07
2.	989	Alison Culp	2006-08
3.	931	Alexis Aalona	2011-14

Also Climbing the Digs Chart
Aalona also ranks seventh in school history with 822 career digs. She is on pace to become the first player in school history to reach 900 kills and 900 digs in their career. Aalona is averaging 76 digs per set this season and needs to average 1.76 digs per set the rest of the year to reach the 900-900 club.
 

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.	822	Alexis Aalona	2011-14

Defensive Minded Horton
Alyse Horton has become one of the top defensive players on the team. The junior leads the team with 169 digs and she currently ranks eighth in the conference with an average of 2.91 digs per set. She has reached double figures in digs in nine matches and has also recorded three of double-doubles.
 
Big Spot 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 125 kills and she is hitting .228. She averages 2.16 kills per set and has also recorded 24 blocks. Chellsen has been in double figures in the kills department in six matches, including a career-high 16 in the win over Evergreen (Wash.) on Aug. 22.
 
Running the Show
Freshman Taylor Gustafson has stepped into the role of setter early this season. Gustafson is currently third in the conference with 458 assists and she has set the Griffin attack to an average of 11.66 kills per set. At her current pace, Gustafson would become the fourth freshman setter in school history to record 800 assists during their first season.
 
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.
 
Looking Ahead
Westminster will spend next weekend on the road as they travel to Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Oct. 2 and then Montana Tech on Oct. 4.