The Westminster volleyball team takes to the road for the third straight week as they open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action with two road games. The Griffins play at UC Colorado Springs on Friday at 7 p.m. before facing MSU Denver on Saturday at 4 p.m.
COVERING THE GRIFFINSBoth matches will be streamed live on the Griffins TV Game Central portal located at
portal.stretchinternet.com/westminster and will be produced by the host institutions.
There will also be live stats available for both matches and the links can be found at
WestminsterGriffins.com/live.
FOLLOWING WESTMINSTER VOLLEYBALLMake sure to like Westminster Griffins on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and You Tube for the latest news about the Griffins. Updates of the weekend will be available on Twitter by following @wc_griffins.
Fans can stay connected with Westminster Volleyball by following @griffinvolleyball on Instagram. You can also read the volleyball blog, written by members of the team throughout the season, on the volleyball page at WestminsterGriffins.com.
ABOUT WESTMINSTERWestminster begins conference play after going 3-5 during two tournaments over the opening two weeks of the season. The Griffins split four matches at the Coyote Classic hosted by Cal State San Bernardino last weekend. They claimed wins against Cal State East Bay and Cal State Dominguez Hills with losses coming against Cal State San Marcos and Cal Poly Pomona.
The Griffins have only played one true road match this season, falling in three sets at Nova Southeastern at the Shark Invitational on September 5. They are 2-1 on the year when winning the first set and 2-0 when taking the first two sets. The team s perfect in three matches when posting a higher hitting efficiency than the opponent.
Westminster begins the week 14th in the RMAC by hitting .131 as a team and they are 13th with an average of 10.82 kills per set. They rank sixth in the league by getting 15.57 digs per set and third at 2.00 blocks per set. The Griffins hold opponents to .191 hitting and get 1.36 service aces per frame.
Amara Culpepper is the team leader in kills with 78 and she average 2.79 per set. The sophomore is hitting a team-best .222 while also recording 24 blocks.
Taylor Gustafson and
Jacey Saunders are averaging 5.26 and 5.17 assists per set respectively.
Megan Gallegos leads the team with 129 digs and is fifth in the RMAC by averaging 4.61 digs per set. Gallegos is tied with
Jaden Green for the team lead with eight aces.
Kate Tsourmas has a team-best 26 blocks and ranks third in the conference at 1.13 bocks per set.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION• UC Colorado Springs – The Cougars have gone 5-4 in non-conference play and they are winner of three of their last four matches. UCCS is second in the RMAC by hitting .188 and they average 13.46 kills per set. Kim Catlett leads the team with 178 kills and is tops in the RMAC at 4.81 per set. Morgan Evans in second in the league at 10.78 assists per set with Cassidy Bush in third with 0.48 aces per set.
Friday's match is the first-ever meeting between the Griffins and UCCS.
• MSU Denver – The Roadrunners begin league play at 2-6 on the year and having played four ranked opponents. They have dropped three straight matches – all against ranked teams – and were swept in all three. MSU Denver is 1-1 in home matches with both coming last weekend. Vasati Fiatoa is second in the RMAC by hitting .340 and Michaela Smith ranks fifth in the conference at 3.54 kills per set.
Westminster and MSU Denver will meet for the first time on Saturday.
500/500 FOR HORTONSenior
Alyse Horton became the sixth player in team history to record 500 kills and 500 digs as a Griffin. Horton is averaging 2.59 kills per set this season and hitting .170. She has three matches with double-digit kills this season and has two double-doubles with five 10-plus dig matches. Horton ranks ninth in school history with 517 career kills and 11th with 583 digs.
GUSTAFSON OVER 1,000During last weekend's play,
Taylor Gustafson became just the fourth player in school history to record 1,000 career assists. The sophomore finished last season with 890 assists, the third-most assists by a freshman and sixth-most overall in team history. This season, Gustafson is averaging 5.26 assists per set to lead the team and she has led the team in assists four times.
CULPEPPER CLIMBINGAmara Culpepper has been the Griffins most consistent offensive threat this season and she leads the team with 78 kills and .222 hitting. Culpepper has four matches with 10-plus kills and she has lead the team in kills four times. The sophomore set a school record by hitting .650 with 15 kills against Cal State East Bay on Sept. 11 and was named to the Shark Invitational All-Tournament Team. Culpepper is 14th in school history with 284 career kills and she is 12th all-time with 106 blocks.
UP NEXTThe Griffins will host their first three home matches of the season next week. They welcome Colorado Mesa to the Behnken Field House on Tuesday and then welcome Regis and Chadron State to town on Sept. 25 and 26 respectively. All three matches will begin at 7 p.m.
