BOX SCORE

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Playing with pink accessories to support breast cancer awareness and research, the black-and-gold Dominican University of California women's volleyball team improved with each set on Saturday yet dropped a 25-15, 25-20, 26-24 decision to Notre Dame de Namur University at the Conlan Center.

“They didn't back down,” said Dominicah Head Coach Gayle Stammer of her players.

Sophomore Seluia "Ria" Falealili ignited a comeback by the Lady Penguins (0-17/0-8) with five kills in the final set to give Dominican set point at 24-22, but the Argonauts (4-21/4-8) scored the final four points in the Pacific West Conference match.

Jessica Jones, another sophomore, led Dominican with 10 kills, seven in the second set when the Lady Penguins closed an early nine-point deficit to four, 20-16. Sophomore Kelsey Lardner topped the host team with 31 assists and nine digs.

In the first set, the Lady Penguins rallied from an early 5-2 deficit to take an 8-7 lead that forced the Argonauts to take a timeout. Senior Cayla Morphew, junior Ashlee Sand, Falealili and freshman Samantha Rains had kills that sparked Dominican to the lead and junior LaShelle Rullan had a couple of sensational digs to compliment them.

Dominican stretched its lead to 10-8 but NDNU scored 17 of the final 25 points in the set.

The Argonauts jumped to a 17-8 lead in the second set but the Penguins staged a frantic rally that forced NDNU to ask for a timeout to stop the momentum. Dominican's comeback started when Rains and fellow freshman Rachael deVries combined for a block then Falealili added an ace, Jones notched three consecutive kills and suddenly the Lady Penguins were back in the game. Following an Alex Gasologa ace, Jones netted her seventh kill of the set to close the gap to 20-16.

Notre Dame responded by building its advantage to 24-17 and match point but Dominican kept battling. Beginning with a kill by Sand, the Lady Penguins, led by Lardner's 12 assists in the set, scored four straight points before the Argonauts closed out the set.

In the final set, Dominican put together its best stretch of the night, rallying from 10-9 and 21-19 deficits and twice causing the Argonauts to call for time. A Rains block, one of her game-high three blocks in the match, launched the comeback than Falealili had a couple of kills to put the Penguins on the brink of winning the set.  However, Dominican had three attack errors in the final four points of the night.

“I'm happy with the third set. There was better energy,” said Stammer. “The light bulb is going off. They are starting to understand how to win and the set choices in the end were appropriate. We didn't put it away when we had an opportunity to put it away but we can learn from that.”

Dominican plays NDNU again on Wednesday in Belmont before embarking on a road trip to Hawai'i where the Lady Penguins will play five PacWest games in seven days beginning October 30.