BOX SCORES: vs. CSUDH | vs. Cal State LA

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team played its first match of the 2011 season on Friday against the team it played in its final match last season.
The final result was the same yet the Lady Penguins were much closer this time.

Coach Gayle Stammer's squad faced an uphill battle because of slow starts and lost 25-21, 25-21, 25-12 to Cal State Dominguez Hills in the opening match of the Coyote Classic Labor Day Tournament in San Bernardino. In its second match of the two-day eight-team event, the Lady Penguins dropped a 25-18, 25-12, 25-21 decision to a more experienced Cal State Los Angeles team that last season played in the NCAA Div. II West Regional tournament.

"After a rough beginning, we settled in and played more consistently in the second match against CSU LA," said Stammer, whose season-opening starting lineup included four sophomores and a freshman. "LaShelle Rullan brought excellent ball control to the court along with Jessica Jones and Katie Batchelder. We are still working out the kinks with our offense and it showed today. After a little video review, I know we can bring a lot more to the court tomorrow."

Against Cal State Dominguez Hills, the Lady Penguins rallied from six points down to tie the first set 20-20 on back-to-back service aces by sophomore Lauren Clark and overcame a four-point deficit in the second set to seize a 13-10 lead with four straight points. They couldn't maintain the momentum in both cases.

It was an improvement from their game with Dominguez Hills on Nov. 12 when the Penguins lost 25-15, 25-18 and 25-10 to the Toros.

Trailing 20-15 in the opening set against Dominguez Hills on Friday, the Lady Penguins netted five consecutive points, forcing the Toros to call timeout with the game tied at 20 and the momentum in Dominican's favor.  But Cal State Dominguez Hills regrouped and scored five of the final six points in the set.

In the second set, Dominican fell behind early again but this time battled back to take its first lead of the day, 11-9, on a combined block by sophomore Seluia "Ria" Falealili and junior transfer Skyler Moon then a kill by Falealili off a nice set by sophomore Sarah Bain.

That advantage was extended to three, 13-10, when Dominguez Hills came out of a timeout and rattled off six straight points. The Lady Penguins closed the gap to 22-21 on another tandem block by Falealili and Moon but couldn't push past the Toros.

Falealili led Dominican with 11 kills in the match. Sophomore Kelsey Lardner had a team-high 14 assists and Bain and junior LaShelle Rullan contributed 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

In its second match of the day, Dominican's play was up and down. In the first set, the Lady Penguins fell behind 14-6 but pulled within 15-12 after a pair of Jessica Jones' service aces and blocks by Falealili and freshman Samantha Rains. In the final set, Dominican forged in front 3-0 – its fastest start of the day – but CSU LA came back to take the lead and never surrendered it.

Bain paced the Lady Penguins with 24 assists. Jones, a sophomore, added a game-high 10 digs and Clark and Rains each had three blocks.

The Lady Penguins (0-2) play Chico State at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a 2:30 p.m. contest against the host team, Cal State San Bernardino, which is currently the No. 3 ranked NCAA Div. II team in the country.