SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's volleyball team lost both of its Saturday matches at the Fairfield Inn & Suites invitational and finished third in the weekend tournament. The Griffins fell in five sets against Fort Hays State in their early match before falling in three sets to Western New Mexico in the tournament finale.
 
Westminster suffered their first loss of the tourney with the 25-18, 26-28, 13-25, 25-19, 7-17 loss to Fort Hays State. They gave up 64 kills to the Tigers while recording 52 on their side of the net. The visitors also had a 90-74 advantage in digs with each team getting six service aces.
 
Desiree Wickwar led the Griffins with 14 kills and six blocks in the loss. Amara Spere added 12 kills and five blocks with .345 hitting. Emilie Austin recorded a double-double with 19 assists and 14 digs while Megan Gallegos has 21 digs.
 
In the final match, the Griffins were swept by Western New Mexico 15-25, 24-26, 22-25. WNMU finished with 47 kills and hit .258 to earn the win. Westminster only had 38 kills and finished at .110 hitting.
 
Spere led the Griffins with 10 kills and three blocks in the match. Savannah Ipsen added seven kills. Gallegos contributed 11 digs and Katie Allen had six blocks.
 
Spere was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 2.93 kills per set and hitting .259 in the weekend's four matches.
 
Westminster will now turn its attention to conference play as they open at Western State on Friday in the RMAC opener for each team.