LA MIRADA, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball battled back to force a fifth set but fell 3-2 (25-15, 23-25, 25-16, 21-25, 15-12) Friday night to Biola at Chase Gymnasium. 

Catherine Johnson led the Penguins (4-10, 2-7 PacWest) with 13 kills to go with two blocks, while Cat Thomason had 11 kills on a .367 hitting percentage to go with four blocks. Josie Walser added a double-double with 40 assists and 12 digs for Dominican.

Karly Dantuma led all players with 17 kills for the Eagles (13-5, 9-2 PacWest), while Sami Hover added 35 digs for Biola.

The Eagles started quickly with the aid of several Penguin errors to build a 6-1 lead in the first set. Johnson led a 6-0 Dominican run with three kills to cut the lead to 13-10, but more errors helped Biola pull away as Sabrina Winslow capped a 5-point run and push the lead to eight. It was all the room they would need for the 25-15 victory. 

The second set started with the teams trading points until Brittania Chan found the court for a kill to spark a 3-0 burst to take a 7-4 lead. The Eagles cut the lead to one, but Cat Thomason and Mariah Ahid followed a service error with a block to immediately regain a three-point advantage. Bekah Roth sparked a 6-1 run with a block assist and two kills to give Biola the 17-16 lead late in the set. The teams traded points and leads until Kate Even found the court on a kill and followed it up with an ace to make it 22-20 Dominican. Brinley Beresford led a 3-0  Eagle run with a kill and an ace to retake the lead, but Dominican responded with three straight of its own and Thomason ended it with a kill.

The Eagles jumped out to the early lead in the third on a 4-0 run. Biola continued to slowly add to its lead until Sabrina Winslow powered a set ending 4-point run with two kills to give the Eagles the 2-1 lead in the match. 

The Penguins capitalized on a couple Biola errors to begin the fourth set with a 3-0 run, but Beresford had two kills as the Eagles answered with 4-straight to take the lead. Dominican was once again the beneficiary of several Biola errors as they took a 10-4 lead on a kill by Thomason. Dantuma had three kills to help the Eagles close the gap to three, but it's the closest they would get for the remainder of the set. Johnson had four kills down the stretch as the Penguins sent it to a fifth set with a 25-21 victory.

Even sparked an early run from the Penguins with a kill to take a 5-2 lead in the fifth set, Christina DenBoer had a kill and an ace to start a 4-0 Eagle run to retake the lead. The teams continued to trade points to a 10-10 tie when DenBoer bookended a block with a pair of kills to give Biola a 13-10 advantage and they would hold on for the victory.

Dominican will continue its road trip at Concordia University Irvine on Saturday at 5 p.m. PDT at CU Arena. Live stats and video will be available online.