BOX SCORE

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team ran into a red-hot opponent on Tuesday night, falling in straight sets, 25-12, 25-11, 25-11, to Sonoma State University, which posted its sixth straight win.

The Lady Penguins (0-9) had only one lead in the non-conference match against the Seawolves (8-2). That happened in the middle set when Dominican pushed in front 3-2. Sonoma State, which has qualified for the NCAA Div. II tournament in each of the previous three seasons, jumped to 5-0 leads in the other two sets, forcing the Lady Penguins to play catch-up.

In the first set, Dominican whittled a five-point deficit down to one, 8-7, on a service ace by sophomore Lauren Clark. A kill by sophomore Jessica Jones kept the Lady Penguins within striking range at 12-8 before the Seawolves tallied 13 of the final 17 points.

Dominican's best moment in the second set was a kill by freshman Samantha Rains that pulled the Lady Penguins to within two points, 6-4. But Sonoma State was able to score points in bunches, in great part by keeping the ball in play. The Seawolves had 44 digs in the match to Dominican's 28 and recorded 26 more kills (42-16).

In the final set, the Lady Penguins scored three points in a row – the last one on a kill by sophomore Seluia "Ria" Falealili – but at 12-6 it was as close as Dominican could come to making a game of it.

Jones and Rains combined for 10 of Dominican's 16 kills in the match. LaShelle Rullan and Jones teamed for 11 digs for the Lady Penguins with Katy Batchelder adding four digs. Teammates Sarah Bain and Kelsey Lardner each had seven assists. Bain also had one of Dominican's two blocks in the game.

Dominican will have a chance for revenge this Saturday when it plays Pacific West Conference rival Academy of Art University for the second time in a week, this time at home. Game time is 7:00 p.m. at the Conlan Center.