SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Sophomore Josie Walser put together a great all-around match to lead Dominican women's volleyball to a 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-17, 25-19) victory Saturday over Notre Dame de Namur at the Conlan Center.
 
Walser finished with 47 assists, six kills and seven digs for the Penguins (4-7, 2-4 PacWest), while senior Cat Thomason had a match-high 14 kills. Kate Even added 13 kills on a .296 hitting percentage to go with four blocks. Chantal Zahrndt led the Argonauts (3-11, 2-4 PacWest) with 10 kills on a .455 hitting percentage, while teammate Rowan Jack finished with a double-double of 10 kills and 15 digs.
 
Samantha Brown led Dominican to a 6-2 advantage in aces with three of her own. The Penguins also hit .207 while holding NDNU to a .182 hitting percentage for the match.
 
Walser sparked a 4-point Dominican run early in the first set with a kill on a quick set to push the Penguins out to a 7-3 advantage. Thomason then had two kills during a quick 3-0 run to extend the Dominican lead to six moments later. The Argonauts began to chip away at the lead and took advantage of three Penguin errors to cut the lead to 17-16 near the midway point of the set. Catherine Johnson and Thomason used a strong attack down the stretch to keep Dominican ahead by multiple points and Thomason ended the set with a kill.
 
NDNU came out energized in the second set and capitalized on several Penguin errors to take an 8-5 lead. The teams would trade points for most of the second set until back-to-back block assists by Zahrndt ended a 4-0 Argonaut run and set up set point. Kathlin Martinez tied the match at a set apiece with a kill moments later.
 
Brown found her groove from the service line in the third set with two aces during a 4-point burst that gave Dominican an early advantage. Destiny Williams found the floor on back-to-back kills for the Argonauts to tie the match at 5-5 and the teams began to trade points for the next several minutes. The Penguins pulled away with a 7-0 run powered by two kills from Even and an ace by Walser. Dominican would cruise to a 25-17 set victory to take the 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The fourth set was tight with the teams trading points to a 9-9 tie, but Even found the floor on a kill and the Penguins used several Argonaut errors to pull ahead on a 5-1 run. Zahrndt closed the gap to one as NDNU slowly made their way back into the set, but Dominican answered with a 5-0 run highlighted by another Josie Walser kill to take a 20-14 lead. It was all the room the Penguins would need as Even clinched the match with a kill.
 
Dominican will play host Friday to Point Loma at 7 p.m. PDT at the Conlan Center. Live stats and video will be available online.