SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's volleyball team closed out a three-match home stand with a loss to Chadron State in three sets at the Behnken Field House on Saturday night in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
 
After a strong start offensively, Westminster (4-9, 1-4 RMAC) faded in the final two sets in the 26-24, 25-17, 25-21 loss. The Griffins had 17 kills in the opening frame, but they finished the match with just 33 kills while Chadron State (3-9, 2-2) totaled 40 kills.
 
Alyse Horton and Amara Culpepper combined for 21 of the Griffins 33 kills. Horton added 12 digs for her third double-double this season. Culpepper hit .222 with six blocks in the match. Jacey Saunders notched her second straight double-double with 10 assists and 10 digs and Megan Gallegos added 12 digs.
 
The Griffins trailed 24-21 in the opening set before forcing three straight CSC hitting errors to even the set at 24-24. Taylor Gustafson followed with a service error and then a kill from the Eagles gave the visitors the opening set and momentum.
 
The Eagles carried that into the second set and they raced out to a quick 10-3 lead. That lead would grow to 24-10 before a furious rally from the Griffins cut the deficit to 24-17 when Tare Ribeiro missed a serve long.
 
Westminster took early control in the third set, 5-2, but CSC put together a 15-5 burst and opened a 17-10 advantage. The Griffins would again try to rally when facing match point, running off four straight points before falling 25-21.
 
Chadron State got 10 kills apiece from Kenzie Chrisman and Gaby Varela. Rudy Leasau added nine kills for the Eagles.
 
The Griffins will look to snap their current two-match skid on Friday when they travel to Silver City, N.M. to face Western New Mexico.