Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball dropped a five-set match (25-19, 24-26, 25-20, 16-25, 15-11) to Fresno Pacific at the Conlan Center on Friday night.
 
In the first set, Gabriela Macedo gave the Sunbirds (11-15, 9-8 PacWest) a 6-3 lead with a kill and the Penguins (9-16, 8-9 PacWest) followed with two consecutive errors, forcing them to take a timeout. Junior Cat Thomason responded after the break with a pair of kills, the second of which cut the Sunbirds' lead to 9-5. After Fresno Pacific scored three consecutive points, Junior Kate Even and Thomason combined for a block to end the run and make it 12-6. Macedo came up with a pair of blocks later in the set, including one that put the Sunbirds ahead 17-8. Senior Aimee Steinwandtallied a kill and then combined with Even on a block to cut the Penguins' deficit to 19-12. Thomason followed with a kill and an attack error from Fresno Pacific trimmed their lead to five. The Sunbirds were able to open things back up as two straight kills from Tiff Wong extended the lead to 23-15. Sophomore Zoe Burgess notched a pair of service aces but Fresno Pacific was able to finish the match on a kill from Carley Bock.
 
Both teams made errors early in the second set and neither team was able to get a run started. Two consecutive errors from the Sunbirds gave Dominican a 7-5 lead and a kill from Even later made it 8-6. Back-to-back kills from Christina Tran and Wong evened it up and a Penguin error gave Fresno Pacific the lead. A service ace from freshman Catherine Johnson knotted it up at 11-11 before the Sunbirds were able to create some separation from Dominican, with a service ace from Greta Dobenecker giving them a 15-12 advantage. Even cut it to 18-16 with a kill but Kylei Dewar matched it with one of her own. Junior Brittany Latigue combined with Johnson for a block and Burgess followed with another service ace, cutting the deficit to one. A kill from Latigue and a blocking error by Fresno Pacific tied it 22-22 before the Sunbirds scored two consecutive points. After an Even kill made it 24-23, an attack error from Fresno Pacific tied it and Thomason added a kill to give Dominican a 25-24 lead. An attack error from the Sunbirds ended the set, completing the late comeback for the Penguins.
 
The score remained close to start the third set before Even recorded a block, then teamed up with freshman Chelsea Bone for another to give Dominican a 7-5 lead. Fresno Pacific quickly tied things up before Even notched another kill to put the Penguins back up. The Sunbirds then made a 5-0 run, capped by a kill from Dewar, to take a 12-8 advantage. A service ace from Dobenecker put Fresno Pacific ahead 18-11 before the Penguins went on a 5-0 run to get back into the set at 18-16. Thomason tallied a kill to make it 19-17 before Fresno Pacific started to put it away as a kill from Tran put the Sunbirds up 22-17. Caroline Bodziak later ended the set with one of her own.
 
Dominican fell behind early in the fourth set, with a service error giving Fresno Pacific a 5-3 lead. The Penguins responded with a kill from Even and a block from Even and Thomason to tie it up and a setting error from the Sunbirds gave Dominican a 6-5 advantage. Bodziak broke a 9-9 tie with a kill but Latigue answered with another to tie it back up. The Penguins opened up a 17-11 lead with the help of a kill and a couple blocks from Even and she later teamed up with Thomason on another block to put Dominican ahead 19-12. Even added another kill and then followed it with a service ace to stretch the Penguins' lead to 23-14. Johnson ended the set with a kill, sending the match to a fifth set.
 
Latigue opened the fifth set with a kill and an attack error from Fresno Pacific gave Dominican an early 2-0 lead. Thomason put the Penguins ahead 3-1 with a kill and Even later tallied one to make it 4-2. The Sunbirds answered with a 5-0 run, helped by a kill from Wong, to move ahead 7-4. After an attack error from Dominican gave Fresno Pacific a 9-5 lead, the Penguins took a timeout. Wong came out of the break with a kill and Tran followed with one of her own to extend the Sunbirds' lead to 11-5. Back-to-back kills from Latigue and Steinwand brought Dominican back within four at 12-8. After falling behind 14-8, Dominican made a 3-0 run before Dewar finished the set and match with a kill.
 
The Penguins take the court again Saturday as they host Chaminade at 7 p.m. Live stats and video for the match will be available online.