BOX SCORE

HONOLULU, HI — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team started its week-long, five-match roadtrip through Hawai'i on the right foot on Sunday evening with a come-from-behind  five-set victory over Chaminade University, 20-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-15, 15-11.

Dominican (1-18/1-9) earned the match's first point on one of Skyler Moon's 10 kills but the Lady Penguins quickly fell behind by six. Back-to-back attack errors by Chaminade (2-18/1-12) allowed Dominican to cut the lead to 22-20 but Dominican was unable to pull even in the first set.

The Lady Penguins roared back in set two with a five-point run to start things. Two Silver Sword attack errors extended the Lady Penguin lead to nine, 19-10, and Jessica Jones's kill sent Dominican into set three tied 1-1.

Another Moon shot gave Dominican the early lead in set three andt the match stayed close until the Silver Swords used a five-point run to open the divide, 22-15. From there, Chaminade earned the third set victory to take the overall lead back and had Dominican on the ropes after the Silver Swords opened the fourth set with three straight points. Back to serve for Dominican, Jones came up big with a pair of service aces that were part of a 9-2 Dominican run that shifted the momentum back to the Lady Penguins. Leading 20-15, Ashlee Sand added a pair of service aces of her own that powered a five point Dominican run and forced a fifth set.

While the Silver Swords started the match strong with a .357 attack percentage in set one compared to Dominican's .067, it was the Lady Penguins who came on strong when it counted, posting percentages of .348 and .316 in the final two sets while the Silver Swords put the ball away just .065 and .040 of the time.

Jones started the deciding set with a pair of kills but the Silver Swords tied it twice, at 2-2 and 7-7. Dominican never fell behind though and Jones finished things with her team-high 14th kill of the night.

When it was all said and done, three Lady Penguins had reached double digits. Jones tied a season-high with 14, Seluia "Ria" Falealili set a season-high 12, and Moon recorded 10. Samantha Rains added six kills in the victory. Sarah Bain dished out career-high 44 assists. Jones recorded 18 digs and Katy Batchelder had 12 digs.

"We played our best volleyball tonight by following the game plan, communicating well with each othe,r and reacting to the game as
it unfolded," said Dominican Head Coach Gayle Stammer. "Our defense was exceptional, beginning with our blocking. We are putting more balls away in transition and taking advantage of free ball opportunities"

The road trip will get tougher, with Dominican facing regionally-ranked opponents in the next four matches of the road trip. On Monday, October 31, the Lady Penguins face Hawai'i Pacific University, ranked sixth in the region. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m./10:00 p.m Pacific.