SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball was unable to overcome a slow start as it was swept 25-11, 25-10, 25-23 Saturday by Azusa Pacific at the Conlan Center.
 
Senior Kate Even led the Penguins (4-9, 2-6 PacWest) with eight kills, while freshman Mariah Ahid came off the bench for six kills and three digs. The Cougars (13-4, 9-0 PacWest) were led by Aliyah Morrison's 12 kills as they spread the ball around to several different hitters on the way to a team .376 hitting percentage.
 
Julianne Miller led APU to a fast start in the first set bracketing a 5-0 run with a pair of kills for the early 6-1 lead. Even answered with back-to-back kills in a 3-point burst to close the gap to three, but that was the closest it would be for the remainder of the set. The Cougars closed out the set on a 12-2 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Frankie D'Aquila sparked an 8-1 run with a pair of aces to give APU another early lead at 13-5. The Cougars would push their advantage to 15 on their way to a 25-10 victory as they continued to make few errors in the match.
 
Dominican came out in the third set with renewed energy answering APU runs with some of its own. After the Cougars took an 8-6 lead, the Penguins answered with three straight kills from Even, Catherine Johnson and Eleni Loizou to take a 9-8 lead. APU was able to open up a small advantage at 17-12 after capitalizing on a couple Dominican errors, but the Penguins were not going to go down so easily. Dominican slowly chipped away at the lead, until back-to-back kills by Ahid sparked a 3-0 run that cut the lead to one at match point. The Cougars held on as Morrison found the court for one last kill to complete the sweep.
 
Dominican will head to Southern California to take on Biola on Friday at Chase Gymnasium in La Mirada. Live stats and video will be available online.