HAYWARD, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's volleyball team was the only team to emerge from the Route 92 Showdown undefeated at 4-0, giving the Penguins their best start in Division II history.

Dominican began the morning by handing Humboldt State (2-1) its first loss of the season in a four-set victory, 25-17, 18-25, 28-26, 25-21. In the nightgap, the Penguins overcame their first deficit of the season in a five-set win, 25-23, 20-25, 14-25, 25-18, 15-12, against host Cal State East Bay (1-3).

"These girls have such a will to win and refuse to give up and refuse to lose," said Head Coach Yami Nolan, who is in her first season at the helm of the Penguins. "When we're down two sets we just keep plugging away. We take it one match and when we win it's a real confidence boost. They'll always have this experience to look back on in other tough situations."

Dominican played balanced volleyball against HSU with three Penguins registering double-digit kills (Aimee Steinwand 17, Brittany Latigue 12, Madeline Powelson 12) and four Penguins recording double-digit digs (Powelson 19, Amanda Lee 18, Hannah Smith 15, Steinwand 14). Smith dished out 40 assists against the Lumberjacks. HSU led 12-8 early but four Penguin kills and an HSU attack error put the Penguins in front 13-12. From there, the Penguins finished on a 12-5 run to take the early lead. Dominican didn't get much going in set two and nearly let set three slip away. Down 24-23, Steinwand hammered home a kill to tie the match and Dominican rallied for a 28-26 comeback. The Penguins closed it out with the 25-21 win in set four.

In the nightcap, Dominican recorded 110 digs against the Pioneers, led by a career-high 24 from junior Alexa Logiudice. Four other Dominican players also had double-digit digs (Lee 22, Steinwand 21, Powelson 15, Smith 12). Powelson led the Penguins with 17 more kills and Kate Even and Susanna Pilkerton each added 10 in the win. Smith dished out 27 assists and Rebecca Schira saw her first action of the weekend and had 21 assists. A 10-4 Penguins run gave Dominican the early lead but found themselves trailing after three sets for the first time this season after the Pioneers closed out the second and third sets on big runs. Tied 8-8 in set two, Dominican went on an 8-2 run that saw the Pioneers burn a pair of timeouts. However, the Penguins cruised to the set four win and saw the momentum spill over into set five for an early 7-3 lead. CSUEB called yet another timeout and climbed back into the match and tied the set at 9-9. Dominican fell behind 11-10 but three Pilkerton kills and an Even kill propeled the Penguins to victory.

Dominican returns to Hayward next week to compete in the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase. The Penguins will start with a rematch with Cal State East Bay, then face Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State San Marcos, and Saint Martin's. PacWest Conference action begins the following weekend at home versus Holy Names.

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