SALT LAKE CITY — Head Coach Karrin Moore leads the Westminster College women's volleyball program to Dallas, Texas, for the 2021 Patriot Tournament where they will officially begin the regular season on Friday and Saturday with four non-conference matches on the campus of Dallas Baptist University.  The Griffins open play on Friday at 10:30 a.m. (MDT) as they take on Wayne State College (Neb.), followed by a match against Arkansas Tech beginning at 3:30 p.m. (MDT).

Westminster will return to action early on Saturday, taking on Eastern New Mexico at 8 a.m. (MDT) before closing the weekend against tournament hosts, Dallas Baptist Univ., at 12 p.m. (MDT).

Follow @WCGriffins on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for updates throughout the weekend and check back on westminstergriffins.com for full match statistics and recaps.

Scouting the Griffins:
- Coach Moore heads into her third full season in 2021 after navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and a challenging year in which the program was forced to play a condensed, 18-match schedule in the spring after all Division II Fall 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to the pandemic.  She hopes to continue building momentum for a Griffins program that doubled its conference win total (4) in the spring despite an incomplete conference schedule.
- Westminster returns six upperclassmen who saw action in all 18 spring matches for the Griffins.  Returners include the team's leaders in digs (Holland Vande Merwe, 3.13 d/s), blocks Malinda Messner (49.0, 12 solo), and assists (Bri Mortensen, 7.96 a/s).
- Offensively, the Griffins will bring back outside hitter, Lydia Parkinson (Miller), who finished third on the Spring 2021 team with 145 total kills (2.10 k/s).  Messner will also provide experience on the Griffins' attack, after she finished second in the spring with 2.13 k/s and a .254 hitting percentage.
- Newcomers to the team include outside hitter, Olivia Curtis, who averaged 3.33 k/s and 2.82 d/s to earn Second Team All-Region 18 honors at the College of Southern Nevada.  Sophomore outside hitter, Sadie Babka, also transferred to Westminster for the fall semester after earning All-Region honors playing for Treasure Valley Community College.

Scouting the Opponents:
    Wayne State
- Wayne State College, ranked No. 24 in the first AVCA Top-25, was one of five teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) to make the nation's preseason top-25.
- WSC did not play any matches during the 2020-21 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Wildcats went 24-7 and finished as the 13^th-ranked team in the final 2019 AVCA Top-25.
    Arkansas Tech
- Arkansas Tech was picked to finish third in this season's preseason Great American Conference (GAC) coaches poll.  The Golden Suns went 7-5 in a condensed Spring 2021 competition schedule after having their fall 2020 season canceled due to the pandemic.
- Head Coach Kera Dukic returns 13 student-athletes from her 2020-21 team including a pair of all-conference selections in Madison Grantham and Brianna Merkel.
- The Golden Suns open play on Friday against Eastern New Mexico.
    Eastern New Mexico
- Eastern New Mexico was voted to finish 18^th in the Lone Star Conference (LSC) preseason coaches' poll.
- The Greyhounds, who did not play any matches over the 2020-21 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, went 5-21 overall with a 3-15 LSC record back in 2019.
    Dallas Baptist University
- Dallas Baptist did participate in limited LSC action this past spring, going 3-10 with a first-round exit at the hands of Midwestern State in the Spring 2021 Lone Star Conference Tournament.
- DBU finished the 2019 season with a 15-16 overall record and a 7-11 LSC mark.
- Saturday's match will mark the first-ever meeting between Westminster and DBU.

Up Next:
Westminster continues its non-conference schedule next weekend as it heads to California to compete in the SoCal Freeway Challenge on Sept. 10-11 where it will face Point Loma, Cal State Univ- Dominguez Hills, Azusa Pacific, and Cal Poly.

For all the latest Westminster Athletics scores, news and updates, follow us on social media or visit westminstergriffins.com.