SALT LAKE CITY - The Westminster women's volleyball
team got the season started in exciting fashion by picking up two wins
at the
Tournament of Champions presented by Courtyard Marriott Downtown.
Westminster opened the season with a 3-0
sweep of Daemen College. In the night
cap, Westminster rallied from down two sets to win a five set thriller
over No.
16 College of Idaho.
Six different players recorded multiple kills in the
opener with Daemen. Clotile Harris led
everyone with her 14 kills and .667 hitting efficiency. As a team, Westminster hit .275 in the match
while posting five blocks and 38 digs.
The team also added six service aces en route to the 25-16, 25-22, 25-16
victory.
The College of Idaho match was a whole different
story. After dropping the first two sets
30-28 and 25-20, Westminster stormed all the way back and won the final three
sets 25-15, 29-27, 16-14. The match
featured 42 ties and 16 lead changes and had three sets go into extra points. The teams combined for 129 kills, 137 digs
and 18.5 blocks.
Westminster finished the match with 66 kills while
hitting .222. The Griffins recorded 11
service aces to go with 66 digs. They
got back into the match by hitting .345 and .282 in sets three and four
respectively.
Harris was dominate through much of the match and
finished with 25 kills in just her second collegiate match. She wasn't alone however, as Kenzie Mitchell
and Ashley Marchant chipped in 12 and 10 kills respectively. Marchant just missed a double-double with her
nine digs while Mitchell added dour service aces. Emily Atkinson distributed 53 assists and
freshman libero Kyndall Kordakis racked up 21 digs.
Westminster will face No. 9 Azusa Pacific in the
final match of pool play on Saturday at noon.
The semi-final matches are scheduled for 2 and 4 p.m. with the
tournament's championship match slated for 6 p.m.
