SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team got back in the win column with a 3-1 (28-26, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23) PacWest victory over visiting BYU-Hawaii on Monday night.
The win was the first and the last for the Penguins (8-6/4-2 PacWest) against the Seasiders (2-10/0-3 PacWest), as Dominican was swept in the two teams' first 10 meetings. BYU-Hawaii is set to
discontinue its athletics program after the 2016-17 season, meaning Monday night's matchup was the final time the two teams will see each other.
Dominican trailed early in a sloppy first set that saw both teams post a negative attack percentage. The Penguins evened the set at 15-15 on a
Brittany Latigue kill. An
Aimee Steinwand kill gave Dominican set point but traded points with the Seasiders, who had a chance for set point at 26-25. Dominican took advantage of three conseutive Seasiders errors to take the early match lead. Dominican carried the momentum into set two, where they built a 7-4 lead before the Seasiders evened the set at 9-9. Tied at 13-13, Dominican used a 7-0 run to open up the set, then closed it out on a 3-0 run to grab a 2-0 lead. The Seasiders didn't go easily and erased another early Penguins lead. Tied at 11-11, Dominican libero
Amanda Lee landed hard and came up grasping her knee. The Penguins looked visibly rattled without the defending PacWest Libero of the Year on the court and BYUH capitalized with a 14-7 run that forced a fourth set. Lee returned in set four but the Penguins didn't pull away until late. BYU-Hawaii led 21-17 but Dominican finished strong with an 8-2 run that saw five points as a result of Seasiders errors.
Seven different Penguins recorded at least a pair of kills, led by nine from Latigue. Depsite missing a good portion of set three, Lee led all players with 30 digs. Steinwand added 11 digs and
Madeline Powelson had 10.
Hannah Smith dished out 36 assists. Dominican also got back on track defensively at the net with 12 blocks.
Kate Even had a hand in eight blocks, matching a career-high.
BYU-Hawaii led by Sinamoni Tonga's match-high 18 kills. Libero Penina Sao added a team-high 27 digs and was one of five Seasiders to reach double digits.
Dominican hosts Hawai'i Pacific on Satuday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. As part of the early start time, fans are encouraged to roll out of bed and straight to match in their pajamas as part of the Penguin Pajama Party. 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.