SAN FRANCISCO – Dominican women's volleyball dropped a pair of 3-0 decision to Concordia University and San Francisco State to open up the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase on Friday. The Penguins (0-3) fell 25-11, 25-21, 25-17 to the Cavaliers (1-5) before a 25-17, 25-14, 28-26 loss to the Gators (5-2).

Freshman outside hitter Tiffany Wong led Dominican with nine kills and eight digs in the first match, while sophomore setter Haley Frederking tallied the first double-double of her Penguin career with 10 assists and 10 digs. Freshman middle blocker Teddy Batinkova led the charge in the second match with five kills and two blocks.
 
CU vs DUC
 
Concordia started the game strong as Zoe DiNardo and Jessica Wheeler each tallied three kills during a 10-1 run to open the match. Kiana Pelton served up an ace and a couple of Cavalier errors gave Dominican some momentum as they went on a 5-0 run to close the gap to 10-6. Abbey Schwager picked up Concordia with two aces and a kill during a 6-point burst to take a double-digit lead as it cruised to the 25-11 victory.
 
Katelyn Brandenburg sparked the Cavaliers to a 5-1 lead in the second set with three kills. The teams traded points for the next several minutes until Mariah Ahid put down a kill and then assisted Eleni Loizou on a block to send the Penguins on a 5-0 run to close the gap to two. Hana Wyles then sparked a 4-point burst for Dominican with an ace to give it the 19-18 lead. After a Wong kill kept the set tied at 21, DiNardo sent Concordia on a set ending 4-0 run with a block assist and a kill.
 
Batinkova gave the Penguins the early momentum in the third set with a block assist and a kill as they jumped ahead 3-1. Wong extended the lead to 8-5 with a kill and an ace, but Camille Guerrero found the court for back-to-back kills to start a 5-1 run to give the Cavaliers the lead. Elyssa Rose then started an 8-point Concordia run with two kills and a solo block as the Cavaliers pulled away to seal the victory.
 
SFSU vs DUC
 
Marlena Billings and Trinity Barr set the defensive tone early for SFSU combining for a block on two of the first three points. Billings then collected her third block assist as the Gators extended the run to 7-1 to open the match. Edee Leslie then sparked the Dominican offense with a block assist and a kill to begin a 5-point burst that cut its deficit to two. After trading points for the next few minutes, Frederking served up an ace and the Penguins capitalized on a couple of Gator miscues to make it 13-12. Drew Morris and Bailey Johnson each had a kill before combining for a block to send SFSU on a late 4-point burst to get some breathing room at 22-16 and the Gators added three of the final four points to close out the victory.
 
SFSU started the second set much like the first to take a 7-2 lead behind a strong attack. The Gators proved to be their own biggest enemy from there as several errors kept the Penguins in the match as they cut the deficit to one on multiple occasions. Johnson broke SFSU out of its rut with two kills to take an 18-12 lead following a 7-2 run. The Gators continued to carry the momentum as they went on to take the second set 25-14.
 
SFSU was able to gain a 15-12 advantage in the third set as the teams spent much of the first half of the set trading points and small runs. Billings led the Gators on a 3-0 run late with a block assist and a kill to take a 22-17 advantage, but the Penguins would not go away so easily. Frederking found the court on an ace, while Wong had two kills and junior opposite Rebecca Smith had two blocks to power a 6-0 run to take the 23-22 lead. SFSU took advantage of back-to-back errors to get to match point at 24-23 and force a timeout. Sophie Anderson committed an error out of the timeout for the Gators and the seesaw battle continued into extra points. A service error gave SFSU another chance at the match at 27-26 and Morris ended it with a kill to hold off the Penguins.
 
Dominican will return to the court Saturday to take on Humboldt State at 2:30 p.m. PDT before facing off with Cal State Dominguez Hills at 7:30 p.m. at The Swamp. Live stats and video will be available online.