HONOLULU – Seniors Kate Even and Brittany Latigue led Dominican women's volleyball to a 3-1 victory Monday night over Hawai'i Pacific at James Castle Gymnasium to end its road trip to the islands.
 
Even had a match-high 12 kills to go with four blocks for the Penguins (3-5, 1-2 PacWest), while Latigue added 12 kills of her own on a .500 hitting percentage. Freshman Brittania Chan added her first career double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs. Sophomore Josie Walser had a great all-around game with seven kills, six digs and 34 assists for Dominican.
 
The Sharks (2-6, 1-1 PacWest) were led by Perla Escobar's 12 kills and 13 digs, but the Penguins hit a season-best .258 for the match and held HPU to a .156 hitting percentage.
 
The first set began with the teams trading points and small runs to an 11-11 tie, but Nicole Ferris found the floor with a kill and Carson Pyle recorded blocks on three consecutive rallies to give Hawaii Pacific the 15-11 lead. Samantha Brown helped Dominican close the gap to one with two service aces in a 4-0 run. The Sharks used a few small runs to build an advantage and Perla Escobar ended the first set with a kill.
 
The Penguins answered in the second set as Eleni Loizou and Latigue combined for a block to spark a 5-1 run to give them the early 8-4 lead. Even caught fire at the halfway point finding the floor on back-to-back kills before combining with Walser for a block to begin a 6-0 run to give Dominican a large lead as they cruised to a 25-14 set victory.
 
The third set began much like the first as the teams battled to an 8-8 tie early after a kill by Chan. Latigue and Walser then bookended a Shark error with a pair of kills to give the Penguins the 11-8 lead. The teams traded points for the remainder of the set until Latigue ended the set with a kill to give Dominican the 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
Even started the first run of the fourth set with back-to-back kills and added a pair of blocks to lead a 5-point run to give the Penguins the early 9-3 advantage. Latigue led another 4-0 run to extend the lead to nine and Dominican cruised the rest of the way to a 25-12 victory to take the match.
 
The Penguins will travel next to Fresno, California, to face Fresno Pacific Saturday at 3 p.m. PDT at the Special Events Center. Live stats and video will be available online.