BELMONT, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball battled to overcome a slow start Wednesday night, but fell 25-15, 22-25, 25-14, 18-25, 15-12 in a tight match with Notre Dame de Namur at Walter Gleason Gymnasium.
Seniors
Cat Thomason and
Kate Even each had 12 kills for the Penguins (4-12, 2-9 PacWest), while Thomason added seven blocks and Even finished with four.
Josie Walser ended the night with 45 assists, eight digs and two aces.
Rebecca Lee led the Argonauts (6-13, 5-6 PacWest) with 15 kills on a .414 hitting percentage, while Kathlin Martinez added 13 kills and 11 digs.
Kathlin Martinez found the floor on two kills to lead NDNU on a 4-0 run early in the first set to give the Argonauts a 7-3 advantage. The teams continued to trade points for the next several minutes, until Dominican errors increased its deficit to six at the midway point. Even served up an ace and Thomason added a kill to pull the match back within three, but errors again haunted the Penguins as the Argonauts pulled away late.
The teams opened the second set trading points to an 8-8 tie until Walser and
Shaina Snyder each served up an ace to help the Penguins open up a 12-9 lead after a small run.
Samantha Brown added an ace of her own minutes later to force an NDNU timeout with Dominican leading 15-11, but errors once again helped the Argonauts as they scored four straight out of the break.
Cat Thomason then sparked a 3-point burst with a big block to rebuild a lead and the teams traded points until Thomason ended the set with a kill for the Penguins.
The Argonauts brought out a strong blocking attack in the third set as they jumped out to a 15-5 lead. Dominican was unable to play itself out of the hole and NDNU went on to hit .355 on 15 kills in the 25-14 set victory.
The Argonauts continued to hit well to start the fourth set, spreading the ball around to three different hitters to take a 6-3 lead early. Thomason sparked the Penguins with a kill and a block assist as they reeled off three straight to tie the match at eight.
Catherine Johnson found the floor for a kill and Walser followed with her second ace of the match to give Dominican its first lead of the set at 11-10. Thomason once again gave the Penguins a spark with a kill and a block assist to pull ahead 18-15 minutes later, but Rowan Jack and Rebecca Lee had back-to-back kills to pull the Argonauts back within one. Even had a block assist and a kill and
Catherine Johnson added two kills to power one last Dominican run to take a 22-17 lead and the Penguins held on to send the match to a fifth set.
NDNU capitalized on a couple of Penguin errors and Lee had back-to-back kills to build a 9-6 advantage in the deciding set. Thomason broke the run with a kill, but Lee answered once again to keep the Argonauts at a safe distance.
Rebecca Smith sparked a 3-0 Penguin run with a kill to close the gap to 11-10 and force an NDNU timeout as the teams neared the end of the match.
Brittania Chan then had a kill and Even followed with her second ace of the night to tie the match up at 12, but a kill by Martinez coupled with a couple of Dominican errors gave the match to the Argonauts.
The Penguins will return home Friday to face Fresno Pacific at 7 p.m. PDT at the Conlan Center. Dominican will be holding a pink out in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Live stats and video will be available online.
