Westminster volleyball: Griffins defeat Carroll in epic match

SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women’s volleyball team defeated Carroll College (Mont.) in an epic five-set match on Saturday afternoon in the Behnken Field House.

Westminster improves to 12-6 overall and 5-2 in the Frontier Conference behind the 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-9 win. With the loss, Carroll drops to 15-6 and 5-2.

The back-and-forth match featured 24 ties and 10 lead changes over the course of the afternoon. Westminster matched a school record with 82 kills and hit .262 for the match. The Griffins 75 assists are the second-most in school history, while the 107 digs rank fourth.

Alexis Aalona had a huge afternoon from her outside hitter position. The sophomore posted a career-high 23 kills and had only four errors on 53 swings. Her .358 hitting efficiency was bolstered by the .667 she hit in the opening set. Aalons also had 12 digs and two blocks in the match.

Ashley Marchant added another solid outing for the Griffins. The senior contributed 16 kills with a career-high 28 digs and two service aces. Katie Vance and Stephanie Jones Morin added 13 kills apiece and combined for seven blocks. Setter Emily Atkinson set a new Westminster record with 70 assists, and libero Kyndall Kordakis set a career-best with 38 digs to rank tied for third in school history.

Elli Graff led Carroll with 16 kills and hit .343 in the match. Rebecca Sweeney added 14 kills and four Saints recorded at least 20 digs.

The Griffins will now take to the road for one match next week sitting just one-game behind in the Frontier Conference standings. Westminster will be in Billings, Mont., on Oct. 6 for a 2 p.m. match with Rocky Mountain (Mont.).