CARLINVILLE, Ill. - The Westminster volleyball team extended their winning streak to six consecutive games with a 3-0 victory over Blackburn on Thursday night. The Blue Jays are now 16-7 overall and 14-2 in conference.

In the first set Westminster held a 7-4 lead before the Beavers rallied back to tie the set at 7-7. The Blue Jays took back the lead thanks to a service error by Blackburn and got two kills from Haley Menke and a kill from Sarah Rivers to go up 11-7. The Beavers were unable to close the gap and Westminster won the set 25-12.

In the second set the teams were tied early on before the Blue Jays took a 9-6 lead on kills from Menke, Rivers and Ashley Kistaitis. Blackburn answered with a kill to make the score 9-7. After that Westminster scored on kills from Rivers and Kistaitis, a Beaver attack error and a block by Natalie Needy and Payton Bledsoe to force Blackburn to take a timeout. After the time out the Blue Jays added two more points off a Needy kill and an attack error before Blackburn ended the rally with a kill. The closed out the set to win 25-13.

In the third set it was the Blue Jays who had to play from behind after Blackburn took an early 11-7 lead. Westminster cut the lead to 11-10 after an attack error and a block and a kill by Needy. The teams continued to battle back-and-forth before Blackburn extended their lead to 18-14. The Blue Jays took a 20-18 lead after a six point rally highlighted by kills from Bledsoe and Eryka Wanyonyi. The teams exchanged points and each time the Beavers tied the score the Blue Jays retook the lead. In the end Westminster held on the win the set 26-24 and took the match in three sets.

Kistaitis led Westminster with 12 kills followed by Needy with eight and Bledsoe with seven. Erica Schrader recorded 18 digs for the Blue Jays and Teresa Becker had 30 assists and 12 digs.

The Blue Jays will close out the regular season on Saturday with a quad match hosted by Principia.