HAYWARD, Calif. — A promising 4-0 start for the Dominican University of California women's volleyball team turned into a 4-4 start by Saturday with a pair of straight-set losses in the Penguins' final two games of the D2 West Region Showcase. Dominican fell 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-17) to Cal State Marcos to begin the day and dropped the nightcap 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) to Saint Martin's.

The Penguins led Cal State San Marcos (6-2) by three early but a 9-1 Cougars run erased a 19-16 Dominican lead and suddenly found the Penguins trailing 1-0 in the match. A 4-0 and 5-0 run in set two kept the Cougars in front in set two but the Penguins used strong service from Zoe Burgess and Madeline Powelson to climb back from a 20-12 deficit to take a 22-21 lead. The Penguins held set point 24-23 but the Cougars fended off the surge with a 5-2 run to take a 2-0 lead. That momentum carried into set three, where Dominican fell behind 7-2 and never got anything going. Aimee Steinwand was the only Penguin to reach double-digits kills against Cal State San Marcos with 11. She made it another double-double with 11 digs.

Shannon Riggio-Kerley got the start against Saint Martin's (4-0) after Powelson was sidelined with a knee injury suffered in the earlier match. She stepped in and recorded a team-high 10 kills to go with seven digs but the Penguins let another early lead slip away. Dominican raced out to a 13-4 lead but the Saints scored in bunches and took the lead 19-18. SMU scored six of the final seven points to take the early lead. The Penguins led the first third of set two but another late surge saw the Penguins facing another sweep. Dominican trailed 23-22 and served out of order, a costly point that setup match point for SMU. Liz Larson's serve clipped the tape and dropped for a service ace to end the match and the weekend.

Dominican jumps into its 20-match PacWest Conference schedule now. The Penguins will look to regain their momentum on Friday, Sept. 16 when they host Holy Names (1-7). First serve is slated for 7 p.m. in the Conlan Center. Live stats and pay-per-view video will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by Penguin Radio and the student broadcasters at radio.dominican.edu. Live updates will also be available on the @dominican_vb Twitter account.

Official adidas team store open for a limited time!
The official adidas team store is open for a limited time, now through Sept. 20. Over a dozen styles for men and women are available in various school colors (Black, Ice, and Athletic Gold), plus gray. Orders placed by the deadline will ship before or on October 14. Orders of $100 or more will qualify for free shipping. Click here to browse or place your order.