SALT LAKE CITY - Bri Mortensen reached 1,000 career assists and finished with 48 total to help Westminster volleyball (5-18, 3-10 RMAC) come from behind with second and fourth-set wins followed by a dominant 15-9 fifth set to win 3-2 over Fort Lewis College (6-11, 6-7 RMAC) on Friday night at the Behnken Field House.
Mortensen began the match just eight assists shy of the career mark and was able to reach the milestone early on in the first set as the two teams traded early runs in an opening set that saw four lead changes. Fort Lewis eventually used a 5-1 run to go up 15-10 and held that lead through the end of the set, closing out the first on a 6-2 run to win 25-19.
The Griffins, who dropped the first set to Fort Lewis in a four-set loss earlier this season, responded with a resounding 25-17 second set win that saw them hit a match-high .406 as a team.
Westminster led by as many as eight in the second and never trailed but gave up an early lead in a tightly contested third. Westminster led at 16-15 when the Sky Hawks went on a 6-1 run to take a 21-17 lead and eventually won the set 25-19 with one of their most efficient offensive sets of the night.
The Griffins had their best set on offense in the fourth, hitting .441 with 18 kills as a team in a back-and-forth set that saw another eight lead changes early on. The held a comfortable lead late in the set ahead 23-18, but a 4-0 run from Fort Lewis cut that lead down to one.
Kenzy Christensen and Olvia Curtis would shut down the Sky Hawks' run, however, with back-to-back kills to send the set to a fifth.
In the fifth, Westminster hit .360 as a team after jumping out to a 6-3 lead to gain control of the set. Westminster went on a quick 3-0 burst to take an 11-6 lead and it was senior
Katie Jacox who eventually finished off the match with the final point to give the Griffins the 15-9 fifth-set win.
Mortensen finished with a double-double, adding 12 digs to go along with her 48 assists in addition to her five kills on 11 attempts (.455). Curtis, who earlier this month had the fifth-highest attack percentage (.813) in the RMAC all-season, finished with a match-high 26 kills with a team-leading .469 hitting percentage.
Lydia Parkinson (Miller) had a .371 attack percentage as she added 14 kills offensively while libero
Alanna Lee finished with a team-leading 24 digs on the night. Jacox had a quiet night for her high standards but finished with 10 digs and the final kill in set five to give the Griffins' the 3-2 home win.
Westminster will continue to play spoilers tomorrow night as they host sixth-place Western Colorado at 4 p.m., back at the Behnken Field House.
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