GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.  Throughout most of Friday evening's non-conference volleyball match against Westminster University it seemed like the Mountaineers would earn a victory, but the Griffins held off the Western Colorado challenges to escape with a 3-1 neutral-site win.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Westminster def. Western, 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 28-26)
Records: Western 2-12, Westminster 5-9
Location: Brownson Arena, Grand Junction, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The match turned late in the fourth set, with Western leading 23-17 and two points away from evening the match score at 2-2.
• A 6-0 run by the Griffins squared the set at 23-23, but a Maggie Olson kill inched the Mountaineers one point away from the set victory. Western never led again, though, as Westminster finished off the set with a match-clinching 5-2 run.
• The Mountaineers were a tough out for the Griffins all night, despite falling behind with an opening set loss. The match was tied 26 times, including 13 times in the final set.
• That first set was theirs for the taking after Western opened up with a 7-1 run, and midway through the set led 15-9. The set turned at 22-22 with Westminster scoring the final three points.
• The Mountaineers trailed by five, 9-4, in the second set but pulled even at 13-13, battled through four more tie scores and, again, tied at 22-22 finished off the set this time with a 3-1 closing spurt.
• Western trailed through much of the third set, but drew within two, at 20-18, only to have the Griffins reel off five of the next seven points to move ahead in the match, 2-1, and set up the dramatic fourth set.

NET NOTES

• The match was halted in the fourth set, with Western leading 9-8, for more than 30 minutes for environmental reasons in Brownson Arena.
• The teams were almost even in attack percentage, Westminster edging out a slight advantage, .147 to .141.
• Western pushed three players into double digits in kills, led by Olson's 12­—tying for match-high honors—and followed by 11 each from Miya Alvarado and Seyun Park.
• Setter Nur Turkmenoglu recorded a match-high 39 assists, also adding a pair of service aces and 12 digs.
• Elizabeth Rupprecht came up with a season-best 21 digs to lead all defenders in the match.

UP NEXT

• Western enters back into Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action with its next match, traveling to Rapid City, S.D., to take on South Dakota Mines on Tuesday night.
• The Mountaineers finish the week off at home on Saturday with an RMAC bout against visiting Black Hills State.