Box Score San Rafael, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball won their fifth straight match Saturday night, sweeping Academy of Art (25-20, 25-19, 25-17) at the Conlan Center.
 
The Penguins got off to a quick lead in the first set, moving ahead 8-2 on a kill from senior Aimee Steinwand. Freshman Josie Walser recorded a kill and Steinwand followed with another to put Dominican ahead 11-5. The Penguins' run continued as Walser teamed up with junior Kate Even for a block, forcing the Urban Knights to call timeout. Dominican refused to let up after the break, using multiple errors from Academy of Art and another kill from Walser to jump ahead 15-5. Bailey Soolsma tallied a kill to bring the Urban Knights to within seven and the Penguins followed with an error, trimming their lead to 17-11. Soolsma recorded another kill to cut Dominincan's lead to 18-14, leading to a Penguins' timeout. Dominican was able to open the lead back up to 23-16 on back-to-back service aces from Steinwand but Academy of Art would not go away, cutting the Penguins' lead to 23-20 on a kill from Safua Elisaia. Dominican was able to respond and take the set, using a service ace from sophomore Zoe Burgess to end it.
 
Both teams exchanged points to start the second set before the Urban Knights went ahead 5-3 with a kill from Jennifer Argelander. The Penguins answered with a kill from Even, followed by a block from Even and Walser, to tie it back up. Walser ended a long rally with a kill to give Dominican a 9-7 lead but Academy of Art was able to tie it 10-10 on a service ace from Ashley Pawak. The Penguins created a bit of separation as an error from the Urban Knights gave Dominican a 14-11 lead but a service error from the Penguins cut their lead to 15-14. Back-to-back blocks from junior Brittany Latigue and freshman Eleni Loizou pushed Dominican's lead to 21-17. Loizou followed with a kill and then teamed up with Latigue for another block to continue the Penguins' run and force an Academy of Art timeout. After the Urban Knights scored two consecutive points coming out of the break, Steinwand notched back-to-back kills to finish the set.
 
Dominican looked to put Academy of Art away early in the third set. The Penguins took a 7-3 lead on a service ace from Steinwand and freshman Catherine Johnson tallied a kill to expand the Penguins' lead to 11-5. Walser recorded a service ace to make it 13-6, leading to a timeout from the Urban Knights. Walser kept rolling after the break, adding another service ace to put Dominican up 15-6. A kill from Steinwand gave the Penguins an 18-8 advantage and another by Even made it 20-9. Dominican's lead was cut to 21-15 on an attack error and a kill by Pawlak made it 21-16. After another attack error trimmed Dominican's lead to four, head coach Yami Nolan took a timeout. The Penguins responded after the break as Even and Johnson combined on a block and Johnson followed with a kill. After Walser added a kill of her own, Johnson finished a 4-0 run with another kill to end the set and match.
 
The Penguins take the court again Wednesday for a 7 p.m. start at California Baptist. Live stats and video will be available online.