Salt Lake City, Utah,   The Mountaineers defeat the Griffins in an RMAC Regional Pod game by a final score of 3-2.

JUST THE FACTS
Final Score: Western Colorado def. Westminster, 3-2 (26-24, 14-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-9)
Records: Western Colorado 4-10 overall (2-3 RMAC) | Westminster 6-7 overall (2-3 RMAC).
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Behnken Field House

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Griffins struck first jumping out to a 4-1 advantage. The Mountaineers put a few on the board but WU moved to a 7-3 lead. WCU went on a five-point run to take the lead 9-8. Points went back and forth; Westminster regained the lead 18-12. Western fought their way back earning a 23-21 leg up. A tie game at 24-24 but two consecutive points for WCU saw them victorious 26-24.
• Westminster, staying persistent, earned the first two scores 2-0. Kills by junior Olive Rolseth and Senior Kennedy Kelly and a WU attack error awarded WCU a 3-2 advantage. Western recorded a few more kills but were no match for the Griffins small runs. Westminster quickly put the set away 25-14.
• Another close battle started with WU scoring a quick two. The Mountaineers answered back, swapping rallies eventually seeing the score at 6 a-piece. WCU earned the lead twice at 7-6 and 10-7. The Griffins smashed six consecutive points to come back 13-10. The game remained close, the respective teams trading points, but WU came out on top 25-21.
• Western was not going down without a fight. A kill from sophomore Kacee Garcia started the fire. WCU leaped to an 11-7 advantage and did not look back. WU added points to their score but so did WCU. For everyone point the Griffins put up, the Mountaineers put up two or three. The match came close at the end. WCU up one 24-23. The serve was taken, and the point was awarded to the Mountaineers tying the match up 2-2.
• This last set would determine the game, and the respective teams were ready to battle. The Mountaineers punched first as senior Nur Turkmenoglu set up Rolseth for another kill 1-0. After that first point, Western Colorado kept the lead the entire game. WCU up 12-6, WU tired to come back but the Mountaineers put the game away 15-9.

NET NOTES

• Rolseth lead the team in kills with 16, followed by junior Pelin Aksoy with 11 then senior Seyun Park with nine.
• Turkmenoglu was the floor general finishing with 42 assists, seven kills, five digs, and one block assist.
• Sophomore Chinaru Inoue lead the defense with 19 digs. Following her were senior Myles Hilbert with 15, Rolseth with 14 and Garcia with 12.
• Park, Kelly and Aksoy all finished with two solo blocks.

UP NEXT
Western Colorado takes to the road for another RMAC Regional Pod games. They travel to Grand Junction, Colo. on Saturday October 5 to take on Colorado Mesa at 5 p.m. MT.

For more information visit gomountaineers.com