IRVINE, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team finished off an historic season by knocking off the 2016 PacWest Champs, No. 22 nationally-ranked Concordia, 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 25-22, 18-25, 15-12).
The Penguins (
17-11/13-7 PacWest) end on a high note and are tied for third in the PacWest. 2016 marks the first winning season for the Penguins in the Division II era.
Middle blocker
Kate Even led all players with 12 kills. Fellow middle blocker
Brittany Latigue and outside hitter
Madeline Powelson each had 11 kills, and opposite
Susanna Pilkerton added 10 in the win. Libero
Amanda Lee recorded 17 digs to bring her season total up to a program season-record 636 (5.78 apg).
Aimee Steinwand had a team-high 26 digs and added seven kills.
After surrendering a 20-17 lead and trailing 21-20, Dominican closed out the first set on a 5-0 run to grab the early advantage. Dominican led midway through set two but the Eagles went on a 12-5 run to even the match at 1-1. The Penguins built on a 4-0 lead in set three to take a 10-4 lead. The Eagles closed the gap to two points but a couple of CUI errors helped Dominican regain the lead. The Eagles used an 8-1 run in set four to force a fifth set. Two Concordia errors gave Dominican an 8-6 lead and the Penguins capitalized with kills from Even and Pilkerton. CUI scored out of a timeout to make it 13-11 but two more Eagles errors lifted the Penguins to victory.
The Eagles' Rachel Flynn led all players with 19 kills and Hannah Andrews added 15. Taylor Dennison had a match-high 31 digs.
Dominican graduates four impact players — Lee, the program's Division II career leader in digs, digs per set, reception percentage, and service attempts; outside hitter
Madeline Powelson, the program's Division II career leader in matches and sets played, and second in digs; setter
Hannah Smith, who broke 1,000 assists in a season on Saturday with her 45 and is the program's Division II career leader in assists and assists per set; and setter
Rebecca Schira, who is the program's Division II career leader in assist percentage.