SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team battled down from two deficits and held match point in the deciding set but the Penguins came up short, 3-2 (25-17, 21-25, 25-18, 25-25, 23-21) to visiting UH Hilo on Saturday evening in the Conlan Center.

The Vulcans (11-8/9-7 PacWest) used an 11-3 run to take the first set. Dominican rallied back i nset two. Tied 11-11, the Penguins rattled off four consecutive points to take a 15-11 lead and used another four-point run to take a 21-18 lead. Back-to-back kills from freshman Brittany Latigue and sophomore Aimee Steinwand sent Dominican (6-16/3-13 PacWest) into intermission with the match tied. UH Hilo used a five point run in set three to turn a 5-4 deficit into an 8-5 lead and Dominican would never lead in the set again. The Penguins hit 38.5 percent in the fourth set to force a fifth and deciding set. The Penguins raced out to a 12-8 lead and another Steinwand kill had match point for the Penguins, 14-10. However, the Vulcans got one of Marley Strand-Nicolaisen's 26 kills followed by three Penguins errors, to even the set at 14-14. Dominican had five more chances to finish off the Vulcans but with the match tied at 21-21, UH Hilo scored back-to-back points on another Strand-Nicolaisen kill and Hannah Marang's 14th kill.

Steinwand, in her first match back since she suffered an injury on Oct. 24, led the Penguins with a team-high 20 kills to go with 15 digs. Latigue posted a career-high 16 kills and fellow freshman Kate Even added 10 in the effort. Junior Amanda Lee recorded 34 digs and widened her PacWest lead in digs per set to .29 with 5.93 digs per set. She is currently ranked No. 13 in the nation in digs per set. Junior Madeline Powelson added 23 digs and nine kills. Junior setter Hannah Smith dished out a season-high 55 assists to go with 11 digs and four kills. Sophomore Alexa LoGiudice made it five Penguins in double digit digs with 14.

Dominican hosts Azusa Pacific on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. That is also Dig for a Cure Night, where proceeds will be raised for Dominican volleyball alumna Skyler Moon. Learn more about Skyler's fight against cancer here. Live stats and video of the match will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by radio.dominican.edu.