Westminster campus briefs

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: The Griffins went toe-to-toe with No. 19 Carroll College on Thursday night and eventually dropped a five-set thriller. Westminster rallied from an 0-2 deficit to force a fifth set, only to see the Frontier Conference's top team pull out a 25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 23-25, 15-13 victory. The loss drops

the Griffins to 9-18 on the season and 6-7 in the conference. Carroll improves to 25-7 and 11-2 in the Frontier.

Things looked bleak through the first two sets as Carroll controlled the action and had the Griffins in a hole. Determined not to give up, Westminster started set three strong and battled through eight ties and two lead changes for the match extending victory. The fourth set was another intense fight that featured 14 ties and seven lead changes. The Griffins used tough serving and excellent defense to take the win. In the fifth set, both teams gave everything in the intense action. With the set tied at 13, Carroll got a dump kill from setter Caitlin Tocci and then Christina Smetana ended her 28 kill night with the match winner.

Westminster libero Tahnie Blymiller and Carroll libero Maureen Frauenholtz were excellent on the back row all night. Blymiller led all players with 34 digs, her third 30-plus dig match this season, and was followed closely by Frauenholtz and her 33 digs. The two teams combined for 204 digs in the match and each had four players in double-figures in the category.

Ericka Evans led Westminster with 16 kills and hit .250 in the match. Evans also racked up 17 digs and had two blocks. Katy Waldie put together another solid performance, playing mostly on the outside tonight. Waldie had her first double-double of the season, as she finished with 11 kills and 12 digs. Setter Jessica Schmidt recorded a double-double with 29 assists and 14 digs.

Smetana led all players with 28 kills for Carroll and hit .389 in the match with seven blocks. Sammy Priddy finished with seven kills and 30 digs. Tocci had 35 assists and 13 digs to go with her five kills.

Westminster concludes the 2009 regular season on Saturday when it hosts Rocky Mountain College in the Behnken Field House. The three Griffin seniors will be recognized for their careers prior to the 2 p.m. match.