SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team used a season-high 102 digs to notch its first PacWest Conference victory on Monday evening with a 3-2 (22-25, 25-7, 25-23, 22-25, 15-10) defeat of visiting UH Hilo.

Sophomore Madeline Powelson led the way by matching a program single-match record in the Division II era with 32 digs. She was one of four Penguins to reach double digits. Aimee Steinwand added a career-high 17 and Sari Kwan had 14. Hannah Smith had 13 digs to go with a season-high 51 assists.

"We expected a battle. Hilo is known for being scrappy, defensively, and based on their previous matches we knew it was going to be a battle," said Head Coach Gayle Stammer. "Tonight we finally played our own game regardless of what the other side was doing. We didn't make as many errors as we have so we didn't give away points."

After balling behind by five points in the opening set, Dominican (3-13/1-7 PacWest) battled back, pulling to within a point at 23-22 thanks to a five-point run. However, back-to-back kills by Morgan Lees and Sienna Davis gave the Vulcans (4-7/3-5 PacWest ) the early 1-0 lead.

The Penguins dominated set two from the onset, recording a single attack error in the frame. Samantha Rains slammed home one of her six kills to begin the set and the Penguins quickly led 7-3. A Smith kill kept the lead at four, 8-4, and Powelson served the next nine points as Dominican took advantage of five UH Hilo errors. Dominican scored the final seven points to cruise to the 25-7 decision.

Set three saw the Penguins up most of the set after a five-point run put the Penguins in front 8-5. The Vulcans pulled to within a point, 24-23, but after a Penguins timeout, Powelson was there with one of her 12 kills to put Dominican up 2-1.

"We knew we would have to battle for every point and that nothing is handed to us," said Powelson. "In the third set, when we were down, we had to serve tough and be smart with the ball. We didn't give up and came out with the win."

The fourth set was knotted at 18-18 but a 4-1 run was the edge that UH Hilo needed to outpace the Penguins en route to a 25-22 set and tie the match.

Momentum appeared to remain with the Vulcans, who jumped on the Penguins in the deciding set and took a 7-3 lead. Dominican kept its focus and rattled off the next six points to take the lead, 9-7. The Penguins wouldn't relinquish the lead and a pair of UH Hilo errors helped Dominican to the finish line, 15-10.

Steinwand matched a career-high with 19 kills. The freshman has now recorded 10 or more kills in her last six matches and is averaging 3.12 kills per set. Senior Megan Callen added a season-high dozen kills, one shy of her career high, and one block solo to go with four block assists. Rains, who entered the night fifth in the nation averaging 1.35 blocks per set, had three solo blocks and four block assists. Not to be lost in the victory were the contributions by Amanda Lee, who had seven digs in her first match since going down with a shoulder injury back on Sept. 12.

Dominican now heads to Southern California for a pair of matches at Point Loma and Azusa Pacific on Friday, Oct. 10 and Saturday, Oct. 11.