BOX SCORE

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team earned a third set victory over Grand Canyon University but couldn't overcome a slow start and ultimately fell 3-1 in Pacific West Conference play on Wednesday night at the Conlan Center.

After dropping the first two sets 25-5 and 25-11, the Lady Penguins (0-15/0-6) avoided the sweep by taking the third set. Kelsey Lardner put Dominican up 1-0 and five straight points, including a pair of kills by Seluia "Ria" Falealili, had the Lady Penguins up 6-1. GCU (11-6/5-4) didn't let Dominican off the hook that easily and rallied back to tie it at 10-10. The two teams traded points before back-to-back kills by Skyler Moon and another pair from Falealili gave Dominican a 17-12 lead. GCU called timeout at 20-14 but over the set's last three point freshman Samantha Rains recorded a kill and a thunderous solo block over the last three points to earn the third set victory for Dominican.

Dominican looked to tie it at two sets apiece and the match stayed close at 15-15. Down four, sophomore Hannah Stocking collided hard with the pole after an attack to keep the point alive. With Stocking down, the 'Lopes capitalized with a Caelen Hiller kill to make it 21-16. Dominican kills by Rains and Sarah Bain kept it close 22-18 but Janae Giles had the kill to seal the set at 25-20 and the match for GCU.

"Atter a terribly slow start we probably, in game three and even four, had one of our best performances of the season," said Dominican Head Coach Gayle Stammer. "They just stuck to the game plan and they left their hearts out there."

Hiller was one of five 'Lopes to reach double digits in kills and led all player with 17 kills. Mackenzie Phelps led all players with 23 digs.

Falealili finished with a team-high 11 kills and Moon collected eight. Rains had five kills, three block solos, and a block assist. Lardner and LaShelle Rullan had 11 digs apiece.

Dominican hits the court next on Friday, September 21 at 7:00 p.m. against Academy of Art University at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco.