Box Score SAN FRANCISCO -- Dominican women's volleyball overcame a seven-point deficit in the fifth set to defeat Pacific West Conference rival Academy of Art 3-2 (19-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-20, 16-14) Saturday at Kezar Pavilion.
 
Senior Aimee Steinwand posted her sixth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 19 digs to go with three blocks for the Penguins (2-8, 1-1 PacWest). Junior Brittany Latigue led Dominican to a season-high 10 blocks with five block assists. Freshmen Hana Wyles and Josie Walser each had three aces and the Penguins finished with eight in the match.
 
Kimiah Johnson led the Urban Knights (2-6, 1-1 PacWest) with a double-double of 18 digs and 20 kills, eight of those kills coming in the first set. Ashley Pawlak contributed nine kills and 22 digs, while Teu Lilika had 43 assists.
 
The fifth set proved to be a summary of the entire match. Academy of Art started off strong, building an 8-2 lead behind a strong attack from Bailey Soolsma. Things looked bleak as Dominican fell behind 11-4, but three-straight Urban Knight errors gave the Penguins some momentum. Academy of Art responded with two more points to regain a 6-point advantage and force a Dominican timeout.
 
Dominican used the timeout to rally its strength and Walser found the court on an ace and Steinwand and Latigue combined for a block to power a 5-0 run that closed the deficit to 13-12. With the Urban Knights at match point, Steinwand had a kill and Soolsma committed an attack error to tie the set 14-14. Catherine Johnson had a solo block on Soolsma to give the Penguins a chance at match point and Steinwand finished off the comeback with a kill.
 
The first set was a see-saw battle between the teams as both had slim leads. K. Johnson helped build a lead for Academy of Art with back-to-back kills to make it 10 -7. Another kill by Johnson jump started the Urban Knights on a 5-0 run and extended the lead to six. The Penguins put together a 3-point run behind kills from junior Cat Thomason and freshman Eleni Loizou to cut the margin to two points. However, K. Johnson had a pair of kills to lead Academy of Art on a late 5-2 run to take the first set 25-19.
 
The Penguins built an early 8-4 lead in the second after several Urban Knight errors, but Soolsma jump started their offense and they tied things up at 10 with a 6-2 run. From there it was all Academy of Art as they used several Dominican errors to build a 19-11 lead and the Urban Knights coasted the rest of the set for a 2-0 lead.
 
Academy of Art remained hot to start the third set, taking a 6-0 lead out of the break. After an early timeout, the Penguins regrouped and freshman Rebecca Smith had two kills to energize a 5-2 run and cut the gap to the three. They continued to trim the Knights' lead until Walser stepped to the line and served up a couple of aces to turn the tide and give Dominican a 15-12 lead. K. Johnson led a late 3-0 surge for Academy of Art with a pair of kills to make it 21-20 in favor of the Penguins, but Steinwand had a kill and a block assist to start a set ending 4-point run for Dominican.
 
The fourth set went back and forth between the two teams, with Dominican having the slight 1-point lead early. With the set tied 12-12, the Penguins would start to run away with the lead, going on a 9-3 run behind back-to-back aces from Wyles to make the score 21-15. The Urban Knights would not go down without a fight, slowly chipping away at the lead and Dominican took a timeout clinging to a 22-20 lead. Academy of Art committed back-to-back errors out of the timeout and Kate Even ended it with and ace to send the match to the winner-take-all fifth.
 
The Penguins will travel to Oakland, California, Friday to face Holy Names at 6 p.m. PST. Live stats and video will be available online.