Box Score San Rafael, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball dropped a 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 21-25, 25-14, 19-17) match Sunday night to the University of Hawai'i at Hilo at the Conlan Center.
 
The Vulcans jumped out to a quick start, taking a 7-1 advantage on an attack error from the Penguins. A kill by senior Aimee Steinwand led to a 4-0 run for Dominican to cut the Vulcan lead to 13-11. An attack error from UHH sparked another 4-0 Penguin run, helped by a service ace from sophomore Zoe Burgess. The Vulcans made the key run in the set, scoring four consecutive points, capped by a service ace from Siera Green to take a 21-17 lead. Dominican got as close as 23-22 on a UHH attack error, forcing a Vulcan timeout. Coming out of the break, UHH finished the set on a kill and a service ace, both from Lucee Fitzgerald.
 
The Penguins responded early in the second set, using a kill from junior Brittany Latigue and a block from junior Kate Even to take a 6-2 lead. Back-to-back kills from Evelin Solyomvari and Green tied the game at 7-7. Even forced a Vulcan timeout after her kill gave Dominican a 10-8 advantage. The Penguins continued their run after the break with a Catherine Johnson kill, taking a 12-8 lead. An attack error from UHH gave Dominican their largest lead of the set at 17-9. The Vulcans got themselves back into the set quickly as a block from Green made it 18-16 before Steinwand ended the 6-0 run with a kill. Tori Daligcon-Pomaikai recorded a kill and a block back-to-back, bringing UHH to within a point of the Penguins at 23-22. After Dominican used a timeout, a Vulcan service error and a kill from Steinwand sealed the set, 25-22.
 
Neither team was able to create much separation in the third set. After falling behind early, kills from junior Cat Thomason and Latigue kept the Penguins within one. Freshman Josie Walser tied the set 12-12 with a kill as the teams continued to go back-and-forth. Thomason put Dominican ahead 15-14 with a kill, leading to a 4-0 run as Johnson capped it with a kill. A service ace from Walser led to a Vulcan timeout with Dominican grabbing a 21-17 lead. UHH went on a 3-0 to make it 21-20 but the Penguins got kills from Latigue and Even to give them a 25-21 win.
 
In the fourth set, Daligcon-Pomaikai recorded a block to give UHH a 10-6 advantage and a service ace from Fitzgerald extended the Vulcans' lead to 13-7, forcing the Penguins to use a timeout. The lead continued to grow at 15-7 before a kill from Latigue ended the 4-0 UHH run. Dominican never got back into the set, using their second timeout after a block by Green made it 21-8. Green finished the set with a kill, forcing a fifth set with a 25-14 Vulcan win.
 
UHH grabbed a quick 5-2 lead in the deciding set on a service ace from Mina Grant, leading to a Penguin timeout. Daligcon-Pomaikai gave the Vulcans an 8-4 lead with a kill but Johnson responded with two kills of her own, quickly bringing Dominican back within two. After UHH made it 10-6, Johnson and Latigue sparked a 7-0 run for the Penguins. Johnson provided back-to-back kills and another kill from Latigue made it 10-9. Johnson tied it 10-10 with another kill and Latigue continued the Dominican run with a block, giving the Penguins an 11-10 advantage and forcing a timeout from the Vulcans. Johnson added yet another kill coming out of the break and an attack error from UHH made it 13-10. With the match tied at 16-16, junior Suzy Pilkerton gave Dominican a brief lead with a kill before the Vulcans came right back to tie it 17-17. UHH finished the set and match on a block from Ashton Jesse and a kill from Fitzgerald.
 
Dominican will take the court again Wednesday against Concordia University Irvine at 7 p.m. PDT at the Conlan Center. It is Blackout Night and live stats and video will be available for the match.