GOLDEN, Colo. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team dropped both of its matches in the opening day of the Oredigger Classic on Friday. The Penguins fell 3-1 (25-17, 27-29, 22-25, 26-28) to Minnesota State Mankato and 3-0 (15-25, 19-25, 18-25) to tournament host, No. 18 Colorado Mines.

The Penguins (0-2) made the trip without All-PacWest selection Amanda Wasko, who suffered a season-ending knee injury earlier in the week during practice. Still, the team's depth showed a glimpse of what's possible in the 2014 campaign. Dominican used a five-point run and finished out set one with a four-point run to edge Minnesota State (1-0) 25-17 for an early 1-0 lead. The two teams played tightly-contested ball the rest of the match but the Penguins came up just short, 29-27, 25-22, and 28-26.

Sophomore Madeline Powelson had a team-high 13 kills in the opening match, followed by freshman Aimee Steinwand's dozen. Sophomore Hannah Smith had 31 assists in her Penguins debut.

Dominican looked to be outmatched by the No. 18 Orediggers after dropping set one 25-15.  Yet, Dominican stayed toe-to-toe in set two until the Orediggers broke a 14-14 tie for the 25-19 victory. The Penguins fell behind 4-0 in the third set but pulled within three, 20-17. The Orediggers proved to be too much and scored five of the next six points to sweep the match.

Steinwand had another 12 kills against the Orediggers. Powelson added five digs and 12 digs. Smith dished out another 28 assists and sophomore Amanda Lee had 19 digs in each match.

The Penguins will look for their first victory of 2014 with a pair of matches. They'll face off with No. 14 Grand Valley State at 10 a.m. MST, then wrap up the weekend against Minnesota State Moorhead at 4:30 p.m. MST.