OAKLAND, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball came from behind Saturday evening to top Holy Names 25-18, 27-29, 16-25, 25-23, 17-15 at Tobin Gymnasium.

Junior outside hitter Catherine Johnson came up big for the Penguins (3-22, 3-17 PacWest) late, finishing with a match-high 19 kills to go with seven digs. Sophomore middle blocker Kiana Pelton added 11 kills on a .500 hitting percentage to go with three blocks and an ace. 

Sierra Allen and Lauren Sera powered the Hawks (3-22, 2-17 PacWest) with 17 kills each. Allen added 15 digs and five blocks, while Sera finished with 24 digs. 

The teams traded points for the first half of the first set when Eleni Loizou had a pair of kills to spark a 10-1 run and Tiffany Wong ended it with three straight kills to make it 20-13 in favor of Dominican. Holy Names was unable to put a dent into the late deficit and Pelton and Mariah Ahid combined for a block to give the Penguins the 25-18 win.

Ahid started a 3-0 run to give Dominican a slight 13-10 edge in the second set and Rebecca Smith found the court on back-to-back kills to extend the lead to five. The Penguins appeared to be on the edge of a 2-0 lead in the match as they lead 24-17, but Allen sparked an 8-point run with a block and added two kills during the stretch to give the Hawks the lead. Dominican had two more chances at set point, but Allen capped a 3-0 run for HNU to tie the match at a set each.

Maddy Standley powered a 5-1 Hawks run in the third set with a block and two kills to keep the momentum rolling in their favor as they took a 15-11 lead. HNU withstood Dominican for the next several minutes before a 7-0 run highlighted by Mariah Leal's two kills gave it the lead it needed to take the 2-1 lead in the match.

Pelton helped Dominican shake off the loss with a kill and an ace to begin the fourth set and several Hawk errors extended their lead to 6-2 early. HNU chipped away over the next several minutes and Fanny Chow tied the set at 8-8 with an ace. The teams continued the seesaw battle for most of the set until Smith gave the Penguins the last laugh as she put down a kill from the right side before combining with Pelton for a block to send the match to a fifth set.

Johnson found the court for back-to-back kills to keep the momentum going for Dominican early in the fifth as it jumped ahead 4-1. The Hawks responded quickly with a 6-point run as Leal and Allen combined for a block to give them the 7-4 lead. The Penguins fought back to tie the set twice, Sera powered the Hawks late with three kills to take the 13-11 lead. Head coach Yami Nolan called a timeout to rally her team one last time and Dominican responded as Johnson put down a kill and then combined with Ahid for a block to end a 3-0 run and have the first shot at a match point. Sera was able to put a hold on the Penguin celebration with a kill to tie it and Allen found the court on her next swing to give HNU a shot at match point. Johnson answered the call with back-to-back kills for Dominican and a long rally ended as a swing by Allen hit the top of the net and bounced back to the Hawks to give the Penguins the victory.

Dominican will finish its season in Southern California for a two game swing beginning Friday with Biola at 6 p.m. PST at Chase Gymnasium. Live stats and video will be available online.