SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team suffered another upset, 3-1 (26-24, 18-25, 25-23, 25-13), to Fresno Pacific on Saturday.

The loss marked the first time the Penguins (16-9/12-5 PacWest) have lost back-to-back matches since Sept. 24. With first-place Concordia not yet eligible for NCAA postseason competition and California Baptist holding the tiebreaker over the Penguins, CBU was guaranteed the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Regionals. Dominican, which entered the week ranked No. 10 in the West Region, is likely out of the playoff picture now.

Dominican looked in control early with a 3-0 lead and, after losing the lead, regained the lead 15-12 thanks to a 6-0 run. With the set tied at 19-19, the Penguins rattled off five consecutive points to take a 23-19 lead. The Sunbirds (8-14/6-12 PacWest) responded by tying the set at 23-23, which forced Dominican to call timeout. Cat Thomason's kill gave the Penguins set point but a Penguins attack error sandwiched by a pair of Karah Mitchell kills gave the Sunbirds the early match lead.

The Penguins grabbed an 11-1 lead in set two and cruised to the set two victory. A 6-5 Penguins lead in set three was erased by a five-point Sunbirds run but the Penguins chipped away and tied the set at 20-20. Kate Even's kill tied the set at 23-23 but the next two points went to the Sunbirds. FPU began set four on a 7-1 run and finished on a 10-2 run.

Aimee Steinwand led the Penguins with 11 kills and had 14 digs. Amanda Lee had a team-high 20 digs.

Mitchell led all players with 14 kills. Bissie DenHartog dished out 44 assists and had a match-high 22 digs.

The home schedule concludes on Monday, Nov. 14 versus Hawai'i Hilo (9-14/7-11 PacWest). That is also Senior Night, where the Penguins' four seniors — Lee, Powelson, Rebecca Schira, and Hannah Smith— will be recognized. Dominican ends the season with two road matches in Southern California at Azusa Pacific and Concordia. Live stats and pay-per-view video for all three matches will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio for home matches provided by the student broadcasters of Penguin Radio. Live updates will also be available on the @dominican_vb Twitter account.