BOX SCORE

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Revenge was the motive for the Dominican University of California women's volleyball team at home on Saturday night and, though there was marked improvement, the Lady Penguins fell to Academy Art University for the second time in a week, this time by the score of 25-17, 25-23, 25-12 in Pacific West Conference play.

Last Saturday night in San Francisco, Dominican was beaten 25-13, 25-16, 25-8 by AAU (5-6/3-0), one of only two undefeated teams in Pacific West Conference play.

Head Coach Gayle Stammer attributed a new defense for putting new life in the Lady Penguins (0-10/0-2).

“The team played very well tonight,” said Stammer. “They've worked very hard this week and I think it will only improve on this defense we're working on and that's going to take a little time. But it was a huge improvement in one week.”

In the first set, Dominican had two leads and some great individual play from Jessica Jones, Seluia "Ria" Falealili, Samantha Rains, and a service ace by Ashlee Sand but three of the Lady Penguins' service attempts hit the net, destroying any chance of gaining momentum. Still, Dominican trailed 20-15 after a Jones' kill and its 17 first-set points were four more than they scored in the opening set against AAU last Saturday night.

In the second set, the Penguins, sparked by Falealili, pushed to a quick 5-1 and led most of the way.  The Urban Knights rallied to tie the set at 5-5 but Dominican five times stormed ahead to seize four-point advantages and once caused AAU to call time out. One of the key plays was an off-the-court save by LaShelle Rullan that led to a Penguins' point at 15-12.

A Skyler Moon kill put Dominican in front 20-16 before AAU came back. A Rains dump over a pair of Urban Knights' blockers had the Lady Penguins ahead 23-22, but AAU kept coming. Twice Dominican denied the Urban Knights when they were serving for the lead yet they finally broke through and went ahead 24-23 then closed out the set. Led by Falealili's six kills, the 23 points was seven more than the Lady Penguins scored against AAU in the second set last Saturday night.

“That was probably some of their best play that I've seen all year in that second set,” said Stammer. “Credit that to the hard work we put in on a new defense that's really a better fit for a team.”

In the final set, AAU scored seven consecutive points early and built a 10-2 lead. That advantage twice grew to 13 points, 20-7, when Stammer called timeout. Helped by some splendid digs by Jones and Sarah Bain, the Lady Penguins responded by scoring half of the final 10 points of the match. The 12 points was four more than they scored in the last set last Saturday night.

Falealili had eight kills, Jones had a game-high 26 total attacks, Bain contributed 19 assists, and Rullan had seven digs for the Lady Penguins. Dominican's six-game homestand continues on Friday at home against PacWest and Bay Area rival Notre Dame de Namur. Game time is 7:00 p.m. in the Conlan Center.