SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball swept Fresno Pacific 25-18, 25-21, 26-24 Friday night at the Conlan Center. 

Sophomore Catherine Johnson and senior Kate Even led the Penguins (5-12, 3-9 PacWest) with nine kills each. Freshman Mariah Ahid was close behind with eight kills to go along with a match-high five blocks. Sophomore Josie Walser added a double-double of 28 assists and 10 digs. 

Carley Bock led the Sunbirds (4-16, 3-8 PacWest) with a match-high 17 kills, but Dominican held them to a .075 hitting percentage on the night with seven blocks and 53 digs. The Penguins also added six service aces.

Dominican came out energized in the first set and Ahid powered a quick 6-1 run with a block and kill to give it the 6-2 lead. The Penguins continued to overpower the Sun Birds and Cat Thomason ended a 3-point burst with a kill to extend the lead to six. Even then sparked a 7-0 run with a block and a kill as Dominican cruised to a 25-18 victory in the opening set.

The teams traded points to open the second set, but a kill by sophomore Rebecca Smith and an ace ¬¬from freshman Braelyn Wakefield gave the Penguins a 6-3 lead. FPU answered as Jaal Sotoa-Stuebing had a kill and an ace to lead a 4-point burst to retake the lead. The teams traded several more small runs and leads, until Sunbird errors combined with two kills by Even helped Dominican open up a 16-12 lead. Fresno Pacific kept it, closing the gap to two late in the set, but Johnson found the floor on a kill and combined with Even for a block to end the set and give the Penguins the 2-0 lead in the match. 

The third set began much like the second with the teams trading points and runs until Bock caught fire finding the floor on three kills and serving up an ace during an 8-2 run that gave the Sunbirds a four-point lead. Dominican relied on some good defensive play from Wakefield and Thomason sparked a 3-0 run with a kill to close the gap back to one. The Penguins would eventually tie the set at 21 on a bad set by FPU, but Christina Tran answered with a kill and the Sunbirds took advantage of an error to take the 23-21 lead. With its back against the wall, Ahid came through for Dominican finding the floor on for a kill and then combined with Thomason for a huge block to end a 3-point run to get to match point. Sotoa-Stuebing tied the set with a kill, but Thomason answered with one of her own and Wakefield secured the sweep with an ace. 

Dominican will continue its homestand Wednesday against Academy of Art at 7 p.m. PDT at the Conlan Center. Live stats and video will be available online.