FRESNO, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team fended off a late rally from Fresno Pacific to win in five sets (25-22, 25-21, 24-26, 23-25, 15-9) and start PacWest play at a perfect 3-0.

The Penguins (7-4/3-0 PacWest) jumped out to a 2-0 match lead but found themselves in trouble in the next two sets. A 6-1 run closed out the first set in favor of the Penguins and Dominican carried the momentum into set two with a 3-0 start. The Penguins fell behind 11-9 but a 10-2 run gave the momentum back and led to a five-point advantage. FPU (2-5/0-3 PacWest) built a 15-9 lead in set three and the Penguins spent a large amount of time trying to climb back into the match. Dominican eventually tied the third set 18-18 but tied at 24-24, FPU took advantage of a service error and a Karah Mitchell kill to avoid the sweep. Dominican looked like it would win easily in set four with an 20-14 lead but the Sunbirds used a 7-0 run to erase the deficit and eventually force a deciding set. Kills from Cat Thomason and Brittany Latigue gave Dominican an 8-7 lead in set five and Dominican scored seven of the final eight points to earn the win.

Four Penguins reached double-digit kills, led by 16 from Aimee Steinwand. Thomason and Susanna Pilkerton each had a season-high 13 kills. Latigue added a dozen kills and was a strong presence in the middle of the court, where the 6-foot sophomore also had seven digs and five blocks. Pilkerton and Kate Even also had five blocks each as Dominican turned back 11 FPU attacks. Senior libero Amanda Lee had 32 digs while Steinwand recorded her eighth double-double of the young season with 17 digs. Senior setter Hannah Smith added 13 digs and dished out 46 assists.

Mitchell led all players with 22 kills and had 13 digs. Chelsea Speaks dished out 32 assists.

Dominican will face its toughest test in conference play this weekend when Concordia (10-1/1-1 PacWest) visits the Conlan Center on Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. Fans are encouraged to take part in the #BLACKOUT by wearing black to the Conlan Center. On Saturday, Sept. 24, the Penguins host California Baptist (6-3/1-0 PacWest) at 4 p.m. Live stats and pay-per-view video will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by the student broadcasters of Penguin Radio. Live updates will also be available on the @dominican_vb Twitter account.

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