SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-14) sweep of Holy Names at home on Thursday night.

The Penguins made quick work of the Hawks, limiting the visitors to .029 hitting, and stayed ahead of HNU in the PacWest standings. After using a four-point run in set one to pull away and take the early lead, Dominican used a five-point run and closed out set two with a four-point run to head into intermission with the 2-0 advantage. The Penguins jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the third set and used yet another five-point run to take an 18-4 run. The Hawks prolonged the inevitable but a Shannon Riggio-Kerley pushed the contest to match point. A Samantha Rains and Valerie Larsen block gave the Penguins the victory.

The offense worked as planned with Hannah Smith dishing out 29 assists. Ten of those were to Riggio-Kerley, who led all players in the kills column. Another eight each went to Aimee Steinwand and Susanna Pilkerton. The defense did its part to keep the ball of the hardwood. Madeline Powelson had a match-high 13 digs and Amanda Lee had 12 digs. Rains, who entered the night fifth in NCAA Division II in blocks per game (1.35), didn't even allow the ball to reach the Penguins' side of the net. She recorded six block assists to bring her season total to 1.38 blocks per set. Powelson also had a match-high three service aces on the night.

"We've been working really hard on the speed of our offense and we put Aimee in the middle, where she has experience. With Aimee there, she was able to terminate a lot of balls." said Head Coach Gayle Stammer. "Sam had another great blocking game, she's been a rock star in the middle. Our all-around play was solid tonight and the things we've been practicing is paying off."

Dominican has now won its last two home matches. However, the Penguins will have to find the same success on the road, where they'll travel up and down California and to Hawai'i for their next six matches that takes the team into November. They'll conclude the regular season with three home games beginning Saturday, Nov. 8 vs. rival Notre Dame de Namur. NDNU is also where the Penguins finds themselves next, on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.